Both the Fort Mill and Catawba Ridge boys’ cross-country teams won their respective state qualifying races for next week’s state championship meet.
The qualifiers were held at the Newberry College course Saturday and Friday. On Saturday, Fort Mill boys won their 5A qualifying race with a team score of 52 points. Fort Mill had all five runners finish in the top 20 and three in the top 10. The 5A state championship is Friday, Nov. 12 at the Sandhills Research Center in Columbia.
The Jackets’ Devon Sibley finished second overall in 15:56 and was followed by Evan Wey in seventh in 16:22 and Evan Ickert in eighth in 16:23. Jackson Dawson finished 16th in 16:47 and then Tanner Long in 19th in 16:53 to finish the scoring for Fort Mill.
The Fort Mill girls finished second overall with 64 points and had four runners finish in the top 20. They were led by Alivia Cleveland who won the event in 18:50, while Avery Moriarty was sixth in 19:39 and Angel Kravitz was 12th in 20:08. Kelsey McGuire finished 15th in 20:22 and Mia Zook was 30th in 20:49 for the Jackets.
Nation Ford boys’ and girls’ teams finished sixth and ninth respectively in Saturday’s meet. The Falcons boys’ team was sixth with 143 points and qualified for the 5A state race next Friday. They had one top 10 finish being led by Mason Haynes who was fifth overall in his race with a time of 16:32. Other finishers for Nation Ford were Chase Johnson in 23rd in 17:12, Townsand Smith in 35th in 17:30, Justin Storms in 38th in 17:32 and Alexander Bentley in 42nd in 17:37.
The Falcons girls’ squad finished ninth with 228 points and was led by an eighth-place finish from Mia Royall in 19:48 as she qualified for the 5A state race as an individual. Other Nation Ford finishers were Megan O’Flynn in 42nd in 21:09, Adria Kahre in 56th in 21:39, AnnMarie Macheski in 64th in 21:53 and Jennifer Zermeno in 75th in 22:28.
Catawba Ridge boys won their 4A qualifier Friday, Nov. 5 with 59 points with four top 20 finishes, including two top 10 finishes. The Copperheads’ Sam Rich won the event with a time of 15:28 for the boys, nearly 30 seconds ahead of the closest competition. Both teams qualified for the 4A state championship race at the Sandhills Research Center Thursday, Nov. 11, a day earlier than the 5A meet.
The Copperheads’ Joshua Silverman was fourth overall in 16:30, followed by Ty Massey in 15th and Spencer Predmore in 16th at 17:28 and 17:30 respectively. Jackson Rozelle rounded out the scoring for Catawba Ridge in 23rd in 17:35.
For the Copperheads girls’ team, they finished third with 149 points. James Island won the race. Catawba Ridge was led by Maddy Mack who came in eighth overall in 20:04. Hayla Banish was 32nd in 21:41 and Alexandra Cardozo was 35th in 21.48 for the Copperheads. Shay Studley was 38th in 21:56 and Talia Gluff was 40th in 22:02 to round out the scoring for Catawba Ridge.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
