NEWBERRY – Local individuals and teams had strong showings at the state qualifying meet over the past two days.
Both Fort Mill and Catawba Ridge had team wins, while Nation Ford and Fort Mill also had individual winners.
In the 5A races Saturday, the Fort Mill boys won their qualifying race with a team score of 32 points as they had all five scoring finishers in the top 10. Wando was second with 78 points.
Tanner Long led the Jackets with a fourth-place finish in 16:23 and Isaac Campbell was fifth in 16:25. Connor Demmerle was sixth in 16:27 and Liam Eident was eighth in 16:28. Sam Leckrone was ninth in 16:29 to finish the scoring for Fort Mill.
Nation Ford finished second in their race with 102 points, behind Blythewood’s 46 points.
The Falcons were led by Townsend Smith who won the qualifying race with a time of 16:10. Alex McCaskill was ninth in 16:43 and both Alexander Bentley and Chase Johnson finished with nearly identical times of 17:05 in 21st and 22nd. Jacob Touchstone was 49th in 17:45 to round out the scoring for Nation Ford.
In the girls qualifying races, Fort Mill and Nation Ford both won races.
In the first race, Fort Mill’s Alivia Cleveland won in 18:39. The Fort Mill girls were second with 49 points behind Lexington’s 38 points.
Aiding Fort Mill in their second-place finish was Kaylee Rovenstine in third overall in 19:10, followed by Avery Moriarty in seventh in 19:33 and Mia Zook in 11th in 19:48. Sara Davis rounded out the scoring in 27th in 20:44 for the Jackets.
In the second race, Nation Ford’s Mia Royall won the race in 18:36, just four tenths of a second over the second-place finisher. The Lady Falcons finished second with 66 points, behind Mauldin’s 64 points.
Helping Nation Ford finish second was Haley Garcia in 10th in 20:00 and Peyton MacMillian in 12th in 20:16. Jordyn Battle was 14th in 20:24 for the Falcons and Megan O’Flynn was 29th in 20:51 to finish the scoring for Nation Ford.
On Friday, Nov. 3, the 4A state qualifier was held with the Catawba Ridge boys winning their race. The Copperheads scored 61 points to get the win with Greenville finishing second with 69 points.
Catawba Ridge had three top 10 finishers and were led by Jordan Kent with a fourth-place finish in 16:36. Max Conetta was sixth in 16:43 and behind him was Ryan Pierson in seventh in 16:44. Brady Laurin finished 21st in 17:26 and Aidan Rogers was 23rd in 17:32 for the Copperheads to end their scoring.
For the Lady Copperheads, the team finished fourth in their race with 145 points. Greenville won the race with 37 points. Catawba Ridge was led by Isabela Cardozo in fifth in 19:55. She was followed by Zadie Wilkerson in 15th in 20:43 and Madelyn Hymas in 36th in 21:46. Kaelyn Kellogg finished in 44th in 22:05 and Alexandra Cardozo was 45th in 22:08.
The 4A state championship races are at 11 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 10 with the girls leading it off, followed by the boys 30 minutes later. The 5A state championship races will be at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 11 with the girl’s race first, followed by the boy’s race.
All six of the races will be held on the same course as the state qualifying races was held at the Newberry College cross-country course.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
