Here’s who from the Rock Hill-area will compete in the cross country SC championships
The qualifier races for the cross country state championships were held at Newberry College this past Saturday, and numerous area teams and individuals in all classifications will be in the year-ending event later this week at Sandhills in Columbia.
The 4A and 3A championships will take place on Thursday morning, and the 5A, 2A and 1A championships will take place on Friday morning.
Here’s what you need to know.
5A: Fort Mill hopes ‘veteran runners’ can lead to success
In 5A, the Fort Mill Yellow Jackets were the top area team in both the girls and boys competition.
The Fort Mill boys were first with 52 points. The Nation Ford Falcons were sixth (143 points), while the Clover Blue Eagles and the Rock Hill Bearcats got 324 points and 368 points respectively. The Northwestern Trojans were 13th with 355 points.
Fort Mill placed all of their five finishers in the top 20. Devon Sibley was second (15:56.4), and Evan Wey was seventh (16:22.5). Evan Ickert finished eighth (16:24.0), while Jackson Dawson was 16th (16:47.2), and Tanner Long was 19th (16:53.9).
“We have a great group of runners in our boys program,” said Fort Mill head coach Lee Whitaker. “Most are veteran runners, and they have worked hard all year. They like to run in a group on the course. That is by design.”
Nation Ford was led by Mason Hayes, who was fifth (16:32.2). Chase Johnson came home 23rd (17:12.1). Clover’s top runner was Benjamin McCall, who was 26th (17:14.9). Rock Hill was paced by Carson Hollingsworth, who finished 33rd (17:28.4). Timothy Notarangelo was the top finisher for Northwestern. He was 37th (17:32.5).
The Yellow Jacket girls finished second with 64 points. Northwestern was fifth (179 points), while Nation Ford was ninth (228). Clover came home 10th (262), and Rock Hill was 13th (330).
Alivia Cleveland of Fort Mill was first in the girls competition. She ran the course in a time of 18:51.0. Four other Fort Mill runners finished in the top 30. Avery Moriarity was sixth (19:39.6), while Angel Kravitz was 12th (20:08.1). Kelsey McGuire was 15th (20:22.2), and Mia Zook was 30th (20:49.7)
The Yellow Jacket girls are much younger than the boys team, but very talented.
“These young girls just love to run and compete,” added Whitaker. “They are self-motivated, work hard, and want to excel. They have pushed themselves every day to improve.”
Brittany Mobley-Meulman led Rock Hill with a seventh place finish (19:44.5). Nation Ford was paced by Mia Royall, who was eighth (19:48.4). Ella Nighbor led Clover with an 11th place finish (19:59.0), and Addison Meeker topped Northwestern’s efforts with a 13th place finish (20:07.4).
4A: Catawba Ridge leadership
In 4A, the Catawba Ridge Copperheads finished with strong showings in both the girls and boys events.
The Copperhead boys were first with 59 points. The York Cougars were eighth (197), and Indian Land finished 12th (338). The South Pointe Stallions were 13th (377), and the Lancastrer Bruins came home 14th (487).
The Copperheads dominated the boys race. They placed all five of their competitors in the top 25. Sam Rich led the way with a first place finish in a time of 15:28.2. Joshua Silverman was fourth (16:30.4), and Ty Massey was 15th (17:28.5). Spencer Predmore was 16th (17:30.2), while Jackson Rozelle finished 23rd (17:35.9).
“Our success all season has been a combination of things,” said Catawba Ridge head coach David Helm. “We have good leadership. We have a veteran group of runners, and they all are very diligent in their preparation for practice sessions and meets.”
Lancaster was led by Matthew Prete, who was seventh in a time of 16:49.2. Emmanuel Paddyfote was the top performer for York. He was ninth (16:55.2). Garrett Brown led South Pointe’s runners with a 19th place finish (17:34.0), while Ben Carroll was the top runner for Indian Land. He was 57th in a time of 18:45.6.
Catawba Ridge’s girls squad, which has only one senior in the top seven runners, finished third with 149 points. York was sixth, while South Pointe was seventh. Indian Land finished 10th, and Lancaster was 15th.
“Despite the fact that we have a young girls team, I am not surprised by all of their success thus far,” Helms added. “They have bought into our system, and they have developed as the year has gone along. Our strategy is for them to run together at practice and in the meets, and they have done a good job of that.”
The Copperheads were paced by Maddy Mack with an eighth place finish (20:04.7). Hayla Banish was 32nd (21:41.2), while Alexandra Cardozo finished 35th (21:48.2). Talia Gluff came home 39th (22:02.1), and Peyton Pierson was 40th (22:04.0).
South Pointe was led by Libba Faircloth, who finished 18th (21:09.0) and teammate Ellie Watson was 27th (21:23.4). Isabella Kiger was the top finisher for Indian Land. She was 23rd (21:20.4). York’s top performer was Ava Shook, who came home 24th (21:20.8). Destinee Goshorn was Lancaster’s top runner. She was 79th (24:13.0).
3A, 2A, 1A ready for state championships
In 3A the Chester Cyclones were the only area team that participated in the qualifier. The Cyclones finished 16th in the girls race. Elaine Wightman led Chester efforts with a 94th place finish in a time of 29:07.6.
In the 2A ranks a pair of local teams took part in the qualifiers.
In the boys competition the Andrew Jackson Volunteers finished seventh with 221 points. Judah Nash led the way with a 21st place finish in a time of 18:34.8. The York Prep Patriots were 10th with 277 points. They were paced by Alex Fogle, who came home 38th in a time of 19:30.8.
In the girls race York Prep turned in a team score of 133, which put them in fifth place. The Patriots were led by Tristan Grace Carney, who was 18th (22:29.3) and Sara Grace Melton, who finished 19th (22:38.0).