With almost all of those same parts in place again this year, the sport is expected to be among the strongest in the area this fall.

Green Hope returns all five of last year's placing runners from its N.C. High School Athletic Association state championship team and is ranked No. 1 in the state 4-A rankings by milesplit.com. Cary Christian, which won the 1-A/2-A N.C. Independent School Athletic Association state title, returns four of its five placing runners.

Cary Academy's Thomas Graham will try to make this year his third consecutive NCISAA 3-A individual title.

Green Hope looks dominant: The Falcons' depth is legendary, and Green Hope may have more students involved in its cross country team than any other high school squad in the country.

But the Falcons showed last year that its real strength is in more than sheer numbers.

Green Hope won the state 4-A title last year and is expected to be one of the top teams in the country. Maura McDonnell, Olivia Enright, Erica Amatori and Jessica Rossabi have each run under 18:45 and finished among the top 13 in the state finals.

Those four, plus Lauren Colberg, each have personal records that rank in the top six in school history.

No other team in the state has that kind of firepower.

"The girls team has been extremely close-knit the past few years, and there is definitely a lot of talent, but we need to stay healthy for the girls to do what they are capable of in November," Falcons coach Mike Miragliuolo said. "All of our top five runners ran No. 1 for us in at least one race last year, and we are hoping that we can keep that strong sense of pack running this fall.

"In the 10 years I have been coaching in North Carolina, the quality of the runners in the area has improved dramatically. While we have seen this on the boys' side, it is especially true on the girls' side. All it takes is a quick glance at times over the years to see that. Not so much with the top five or 10 runners, but with the depth of quality runners on the girls side. It has been a significant jump."

If there's a team that can challenge the Falcons, it might come from within its own conference. Cary's distance runners gained national attention last spring with their 4x800 relay and distance medley relay teams. And that same crew is running cross country this fall.

Deanna Foshee ran a 18:37 last year, and Jenna Christensen, Sheridan Jordan and Erin Foshee are all at 20:00 or less.

Cary Christian returns strong roster: The Lady Knights won the 2009 NCISAA 1-A/2-A championship, giving the school its first state championship in any sport.

Of the four state placers returning, Tiffany Hagan and Aundrea Holmes lead the way after being named to the all-state team last year. Holmes (20:07) finished fourth in the state championship while Hagan (20:25) was close behind in eighth.

Cary Christian will also return Caroline Stogner (16th, 21:04) and Laurie Van Deventer (32nd, 22:14) from those who counted towards the team's championship score. Ashley Bolick (68th, 24:04) and Maggie Miller (107th, 25:52) also ran in last year's championship.

Graham tries to 3-peat: Cary Academy runner Thomas Graham is halfway to history after winning his second NCISAA 3-A championship in 2009. No NCISAA cross country runner has ever won four NCISAA championships.

Graham was also dominant in the spring, winning two NCISAA track and field individual championships. He ran 15:38 in last year's state meet - 45 seconds in front of the next-closest runner. He lowered that time to 15:06 in the Footlocker South qualifying.

The Chargers finished second in the state last year to conference rival Durham Academy.

Cary Academy returns three more runners from last year's championships - Colin Godwin, Alex Evans and Alex Coeytaux - who all finished in the top 27 at the state meet.

Falcons are Tri-Nine favorites: Green Hope enters this year eyeing their ninth-straight conference championship. And despite losing arguably the best cross country runner in school history in Bryan Spreitzer (second in state championship), the Falcons are loaded again.

The Falcons, who finished sixth in the state, have great depth with outstanding runners such as sub-17:00 Ryan Walling (15:45), Joe Hagan and Ben Girodias plus Thomas Sartoni and Logan Cones, who are under 17:15.

Noreen leads way for Apex: Bryan Noreen finished runner-up in last year's Tri-Nine championships, finished 12th in the state and had a personal record of 15:56. Roy Cooper's unit has two more sub-17 runners in Christopher Price and Stefan Vannatta.

The Cougars qualified for last year's Mideast Regional and finished 11th in the state.

Mintz will try to recapture title: Cary Christian senior Bobby Mintz was the NCISAA 1-A/2-A runner-up last year with a time of 15:41. However, Mintz won the individual state championship as a sophomore and will try to recapture that title this year.

He led the way in the Knights' fifth-place finish.