COLUMBIA – All three local high schools had cross-country teams qualify for the 5A Division II championship race on Nov. 21.
The race will be held at 11 a.m. at the Farm at Newberry College on that Thursday with the Fort Mill High School cross-country teams having a good possibility of bringing home some hardware.
Fort Mill won both their boys and girls qualifying races during the state qualifier held at Fort Jackson on Friday, Nov. 15.
The Fort Mill girls scored 27 points and had all five runners in the top 10, including Alivia Cleveland, who led the way in winning the race with a time of 18:23. Following her for the Lady Jackets was Ella Demmerle in third in 19:03 and then Marlee Cook in sixth in 19:14. Avery Moriarity was eighth in 18:17 and Mia Zook was ninth in 19:22.
Catawba Ridge girls were in the same race as Fort Mill and finished fourth with 139 points. They were led by Isabella Cardozo in second overall in 18:57. She was followed by Karley Johnson in 29th in 21:24. Alaina Kilpatrick was 32nd in 21:28 and Zadie Wilkerson was right behind her in 33rd in 21:29. Kaelyn Kellogg finished the scoring for Catawba Ridge in 47th with a time of 22:14.
The Nation Ford girls finished fourth in their qualifying race with 113 points. They were led by Taylor Battle with an eighth-place finish in 19:41. Haley Garcia was 15th in 20:26 and Elisse Paski was 26th in 21:10. Jordyn Battle was 28th for the Falcons in 21:14, with Madison Littlehale finishing 37th in 22:07 to finish the scoring for the Falcons.
In the boys’ races, Fort Mill won their qualifier with 37 points. Fort Mill had four finishers in the top 10. They were led by Owen Ware, who was fourth in 16:08. Isaac Campbell was fifth in 16:11 and Finn Leckrone was sixth in 16:17 for the Jackets. Hudson Haley was eighth in 16:21 and Zack Larner was 14th for Fort Mill in 16:43.
Catawba Ridge was second with 71 points and was led by race winner Ryan Pierson in 15:58. He was followed by Jordan Kent with an 11th place finish in 16:29 and Max Conetta with a 17th place finish in 16:46. Aidan Rogers was 28th in 16:54 for the Copperheads and Lincoln Smith rounded out the scoring in 16:58 finishing 22nd.
Another local winner was Mason Haynes for Nation Ford who led them to a third-place finish in their state qualifying race. Haynes won the qualifying race in 15:59.
He was followed by Aiden Maysaenko with a 12th place finish for Nation Ford in 16:31. Robert Saddler was 13th in 16:32. Alexander Bentley was 18th in 16:47 and Townsend Smith was 33rd in 17:28.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
