News: Falcons open invitational season with strong start
2016
The Falcons began the invitational portion of their season by heading to Charlotte for the Providence Invitational on August 27th. GHXC has had a history of success in this big early season day of racing and 2016 would prove to be no different. The first race of the day with Green Hope athletes was the girls championship. The girls did not have any top 10 finishers, but grabbed 2nd place (out of 25 schools) in the team competition. The GH girls finished as the top team from the state of North Carolina and were led by Sarah Taylor (19:55), Samantha Kolor (19:56), Catherine Holbrook (20:23), Kelsey Vogel (20:29), and Alessandra Rodriguez (20:50).
The boys varsity followed the girls and they headed into the race as the favorites and did not disappoint. While times were not quite what the boys had hoped for, the team easily won the team competition (81-118 over 2nd place Jordan and 29 other teams). The boys were led by Finn McBride (16:51), Ian Delgado (16:51), Peyton Barish (16:52), Reed Blackman (17:05), and Nick Veilleux (17:10).
The girls JV race followed the boys varsity. This was probably the race with the most unknowns going in, but the Falcons managed to pull out another 1st place team finish (out of 30 schools) by beating 2nd place Providence 49-74. Sophomore Meg Penaganti placed 2nd in her first high school 5K in a time of 22:13. She was followed by Lauren McLaughlin (23:09), Lindsey Eastwood (23:36), Jordan Parks (23:45, and freshman Pragati Fisher (24:00).
By the time the JV boys toed the starting line, the heat index was over 100 degrees. The boys were fairly confident in their ability to win the race and they delivered. The Falcons' goal was not just to win the team race, but to score a perfect score of 15 by taking the top 5 places. They managed to accomplish this goal and best a field of 44 teams (578 total runners) with a score of 15. Spencer Cowley (17:41) got the individual win, edging out teammate Sean Petersen (17:45). Ryan Kemper (3rd, 18:11), Matthew Kehn (4th, 18:15), and Thomas Vo (5th, 18:21) rounded out the scoring.
The next big weekend of racing will be the Friday Night Lights Race on September 9th and the Knights Crossing Invitational on September 10th (top 10 boys).