Nation Ford girls, Rock Hill boys win county cross country meet
The Nation Ford girls and the Rock Hill boys won the York County Cross Country Meet Saturday at York High School.
The Nation Ford girls won with a team total of 54 points. Marlena Schwinhorst led the Falcons with a third place overall finish. She had a time of 19:52.1. The Falcons also had finishes of seventh, eighth, 18th and 20th.
“I am very excited about the performance of our entire team today,” said first-year Nation Ford head coach Jason Byrne. “We were next to last here a year ago. We have worked really hard this year.”
Byrne feels like the Falcons’ performance in the York County Meet helps them heading into the region meet next week.
“This will give us some confidence for sure,” said Byrne. “We know the competition next week will be strong again, so we are not going to get overconfident.”
Rock Hill finished second in the girls’ division with 62 points. Fort Mill and Northwestern completed the top four, with South Pointe, Clover, and York rounding out the field.
Olivia Paxton of South Pointe won the girls’ race. She toured the course in a time of 19:05.9. That was 39 seconds ahead of Rock Hill’s Lanie Jo Knight, who finished second.
“I really wanted to win this race my senior year,” said Paxton, who will run at Winthrop next year while majoring in English. “I wanted to get out front early, and I did. This gives me a lot of confidence heading into our region meet next week.”
The Rock Hill boys won the top spot with a team score of 38 points. Joey Teachout led the Bearcats by finishing second overall in a time of 16:39.9. The Bearcats also finished sixth, seventh, 10th, and 13th.
“We had a great team showing today,” said first-year Rock Hill head coach Dan Johnston. “This is very good competition, and winning today will really give us some confidence heading into the region meet next week.”
Nation Ford finished second in the boys’ division with 74 points. Fort Mill and Clover completed the top four. Northwestern, South Pointe, and York completed the field.
Ben Clark of Clover won the boys’ race. He ran the course in a time of 16:26.9, which was 13 seconds better than Teachout.
“This is a good feeling today,” said Clark, who is a junior. “I wanted to run with everybody until the halfway point, and then make my move to the front. Winning today gives me a lot of confidence going into next week’s region meet.”
Girls Team Scores
Nation Ford 54, Rock Hill 62, Fort Mill 64, Northwestern 84, South Pointe 127, Clover 132, York 199
Top 20 Finishers
1. Olivia Paxton (SP) 19:05.9, 2. Lanie Jo Knight (RH) 19:44.6, 3. Marlena Schwinhorst (NF) 19:52.1, 4. Jessie Defalco (C) 20:16.0, 5. Abbey Linder (RH) 20:22.3, 6. Abigail Dawson (FM) 20:36.0, 7. Katie Pou (NF) 20:44.7, 8. Anna Hardymon (NF) 20:56.1, 9. Sarah Garner (SP) 21:09.9, 10. Ania Rzepka (FM) 21:23.8, 11. Katie Playere (N) 21:24.8, 12. Maci Bolin (N) 21:26.1, 13. Mia Davis (FM) 21:27.2, 14. Sydney George (FM) 21:29.7, 15. Morgan Werner (YP) 21:46.3, 16. Cameron Stuart (RH) 21:49.5, 17. Piper Grant (N) 21:50.8, 18. Addie Rogers (NF) 21:52.1, 19. Catey Rithianos (RH) 21:54.3, 20. Cate Tedford (NF) 21:55.8.
Boys Team Scores
Rock Hill 38, Nation Ford 74, Fort Mill 84, Clover 90, Northwestern 108, South Pointe 114, York 186
Top 20 Finishers
1. Ben Clark (C) 16:26.9, 2. Joey Teachout (RH) 16:39.9, 3. Cameron Smith (FM) 16:51.4, 4. Will White (C) 16:57.3, 5. Malcolm McClain (NF) 16:58.0, 6. John Charbonnet (RH) 17:07.4, 7. Jared Coccia (RH) 17:07.5, 8. Zach Brugh (FM) 17:14.6, 9. Justin McAteer (SP)17:27.5, 10. Jacob Coccia (RH) 17:28.0, 11. Cleve Fisher (NF) 17:31.3, 12. Amery Miller (N) 17:32.6, 13. Caleb Ruppe (RH) 17:32.7, 14. Jonathan Parker (N) 17:38.1, 15. Cutler Arbon (NF) 17:39.6, 16. Nick Kilbarger (FM) 17:40.5, 17. Carson Howe (N) 17:41.4, 18. Matt McAteer (SP) 17:44.1, 19. Daniel Johnson (SP) 17:44.5, 20. Colton Ennis (C) 17:48.0.
This story was originally published October 18, 2015 at 11:40 AM with the headline "Nation Ford girls, Rock Hill boys win county cross country meet."