The Coach Benson Double Dip Invitational (Preview)

Marist School looks forward to hosting thirty schools this coming Saturday for the 18th annual Double Dip Invitational. The course will be tough, the competition fierce, the awards top notch, and early forecasts suggest the weather will be a bit cool for an early season meet in Georgia. Plan to arrive early, and consider carpooling or other alternatives provided on the meet page. Meet day shirts and a full line of concessions will be available to runners and fans. Admission & parking is free. Follow @MaristDistance on Twitter for live updates on race day.

Coach Roy Benson

The Coach Benson Double Dip Invitational is named in honor of the legendary coach, Roy Benson. He coached at the University of Florida from 1969 to 1979 as the head cross country coach for seven years and head track and field coach for three years. Coach Benson was a senior contributor to Running Times magazine for 25 years, and founded and directed the Smoky Mountain Running Camp for 40 years. From 1993 to 2008, Coach Benson served as a community coach at Marist, where his girls and boys teams won sixteen state championships in cross country, and individual runners won a total of twenty state titles in cross country and track. He is now semi-retired on Amelia Island, Florida, where he serves as volunteer head cross country coach at Fernandina Beach High School. Coach Benson will be in attendance this weekend.

The Course

An updated course preview can be seen here:


The course records for the current layout are 18:45 by Marist's Morgan Ilse in 2014, and 16:19 by Marist's Michael Thurston in 2013.

Girls Team Race

Winter Park (FL) makes the trip up from the Orlando area, and they must be considered the favorites heading into the meet. They return their entire top 7 from a 2014 team that won the Carrollton Orthopedic meet by 2 points over Northview, and finished in 9th place at the NXN Southeast meet. They were ranked US #19 by Milesplit in the Saucony Pre-season Flo50 rankings. In their season opener at the DeLand Invitational they scored 18 points for the victory. Sophomore, Rafaella Gibbons, finished 27th at NXN in Portland a year ago. Three other girls (Herndon, Kuhn, and Jenkins) ran sub-19 on the Wake Med Course last November.

The two time defending AAAAAA state champions from Northview make their first trip to Double Dip this year. They return their top 5 from a year ago, and you can make the argument they are the best team in Georgia this year, as indicated by their pre-season #1 all-class ranking and their "bubble" status in the Flo50 national rankings. Lindsay Billings is one of the best distance runners in the history of the state. In their season opener this year they placed 4 girls (Billings, Yue, Barefield, and Marsh) in the top 8 at the Pickens Preview. In their second race at Wesleyan they took 4 of the top 5 spots with the same girls. But, Sarika Temme-Bapat (a sophomore) has not raced this season so far, and the team has struggled with depth. If she runs this weekend, expect the Titans to be in the mix for the win at Double Dip.

The highly touted team from South Forsyth finished 2nd to Northview in the AAAAAA race at State last November. Savannah Carnahan, a senior, has the top time in Georgia so far this season from her race at Blastow. Her 17:47 also ranks in the top 10 nationally this season. Kaylee DuPont opened her season a week after her teammates with a 5th place finish at Blastow. Milicent Bergey has two top ten finishes in her first two races, and Emma Maisel wasn't far behind with two finishes in the top 20. If the War Eagles see movement from their #5, it is possible they could pull out the upset.

The seven time defending AAAA state champions from Marist finished the 2014 season as the best team in all classifications for the second year in a row and finished 5th at NXN Southeast. But, this is a largely different Marist team from the past few years after graduating 5 of their top 7. Still, they opened with an impressive win at the Battle of Atlanta, placing 3 girls in the top ten. Josie Wirtz is a three time State runner-up in cross country and track. Kendall Nelson is two time State runner-up in track, and two time All-State performer in cross country. Senior, Myriam Alvarez, is taking a break from club soccer to run XC for the first time, and she finished 5th at BOA. Look for the rest of the team to run strong on a very familiar course, and potentially keep a trophy on campus at the end of the day.

This is the strongest girls field ever for Double Dip. Other teams vying for a trophy will be:

Dr. Phillips (FL) - picked to finish 2nd or 3rd behind Winter Park at State.

Pope - finished just a few points behind South Forsyth at Bob Blastow.

Lovett - won Kosh, not far behind an excellent Mill Creek squad at Berry. #1 in AA.

Lambert - won the Saucony XC Kickoff Classic handily

Five Girls to Watch:

Emma Grace Hurley - Foot Locker Finalist (24th), undefeated against Georgia competitors during junior and senior year. A (private) State Champion, #10 all-time 1600, #6 all-time 3200m.

Rafaella Gibbons - NXN Finalist (27th), Florida State Champion.

Lindsay Billings - AAAAAA State Champion, #5 all-time 1600m, #3 all-time 3200m, 16:56 personal best (Lambert River Run).

Savannah Carnahan - 3 time State runner-up in Track, #10 all-time 3200m, top 10 time nationally this season.

Serena Tripodi - 4 time State Champion in AA Cross Country & Track. Sub-18 at NXN SE.

Boys' Team Race

The host team, Marist, had a particularly strong opener at the Battle of Atlanta finishing 2nd behind Mill Creek. Senior, Frank Pittman, is one of the best runners in the state this year, winning in convincing fashion at BOA. Seniors, Jimmy Brewster and Charlie Daniel, lend experience to an otherwise young team. Quinn Burden is vastly improved over last year, as is Brian Faust. Frank's brother, Knox, improved dramatically as his freshman season progressed last year. Expect more of the same this year. Two excellent freshmen, Leif Andersen and Dan Devlin, will be racing all season for a spot in the top 7. Coach Eric Heintz believes this team has the potential to be his strongest yet.

Lambert placed a strong 2nd to Marietta at the Saucony XC Kickoff Classic, posting a 16:38 team average. Senior, Jonathan Schwind, clocked a quick 15:57 on the course. The pack of four behind him (Sharp, Burton, Fox, and Grogan) all placed in the top sixteen within 16 seconds of one another, and all under 17 minutes. No other team enters Double Dip with these kinds of credentials. What is the conversion between the quick course in Savannah and the hills found on the campus of Marist in Atlanta? We're not sure, but we'll find out on Saturday. Right now it looks like Lambert has a great shot to win the meet.

Many of the teams that have a shot to bring home a trophy this weekend raced one another at Bob Blastow. South Forsyth may be the best of the bunch. They finished a distant 3rd to Milton and Forsyth Central in the 2nd Varsity race, but ahead of both Lakeside and Pope. Alexander won the 1st Varsity race, but appear to be a bit behind South Forsyth. South has team structure similar to both Marist and Lambert - a true frontrunner in Matt Patterson, followed by a strong pack of behind him (Francis, Kane, Smith, Warner,a younger Patterson, Hammond, and Catania). They appear to have excellent depth, which has proven to be very important in the past on the Double Dip course, and which allowed them to finish 2nd at the Pickens Preview. Look for them to take home a trophy on Saturday.

Expect Lakeside, Pope, or Alexander to round out the top 4 on Saturday, and potentially sneak in to grab a trophy. Lakeside finished in 4th place at Bob Blastow, just 8 points ahead of Pope. Alexander was in the other varsity race, but appears to be right there with Lakeside and Pope. If any of them have a great day, it wouldn't surprise us if they surged past South Forsyth, and perhaps Marist and Lambert.

Four Boys to Watch:

Frank Pittman - Two time State Champion it track, State runner-up in AAAA XC, opened with 15:53 at BOA.

Davis Stockwell - AAAAAA State Champion in cross country, opened with a 16:40 at Blastow.

Jonathan Schwind - State runner-up 3200m, 3rd in the 1600m, 5th in XC (AAAAAA). Opened with a 15:57 at the Saucony XC Kickoff.

Andrew Kent - 9th place finisher in the 3200m (AAAAAA), finished 5th in his opener at Blastow in 16:09, ahead of teammate Stockwell.