Green Hope Cross Country

What a day and what a year for Green Hope Cross Country! The Falcon harriers capped off and amazing season for both the girls and the boys runners with each team winning the 4A state title on Saturday.

In the girls' race, Green Hope finished off a year in which they were ranked #1 in the state from start to finish with a 4A state meet record-low score of 34 pts, easily defeating 2nd place Watauga (115 pts). By the 1 mile mark the girls had a pack of 5 runners in the top 20. 4 girls ultimately finished as all-state runners and a 5th finished in the top 15 with all 5 breaking 19:00 and all 7 girls ran under 20:00 in a dominating performance. State championship runners were Erica Amatori, Mo McDonnell, Jessie Rossabi, Lauren Colberg, Olivia Enright, Shewit Weldense, and Charlotte Brown.

The girls 2010 state championship run included invitational wins at Wilmington and Providence, a 2nd place finish at the prestigious Maymont Invitational, a 1st place finish and perfect score of 15 in the Tri-9 Championship race, and a 3rd straight Mideast regional win at Wake Med.

The boys ran a phenomenal race at Beeson Park to win by 42 pts over 2nd place South View. Going into the race, most observers saw the 4A boys' race as one of the most wide-open ever, with roughly 8 teams with a legitimate shot to win the state title. While some teams were off a bit, the Falcons were right on and stepped up to bring home the 1st boys' title in school history. With a wind chill of roughly 35 degrees at race time, the boys were unfazed. The top 3 runners got out to a good start, while the next 4 had to fight their way up. By the mile mark, most were in good position and they just continued to fight throughout the race. Ryan Walling took it out hard and finished his Green Hope career as an all-state runner with a 6th place finish, leading the Falcons. Ben Girodias and Joe Hagan followed and Hagan edged out Daniel Glover at the line. Glover ran the last two miles of the race with 3 larges gashes in his left thigh and blood running down his leg as he was cut by the spikes of two falling runners, but managed to run a PR. Freshman Tom Nobles ran an incredibly strong 2nd half of the race and finished out the scoring for the Falcons, while Logan Cones and Ryan Michael also ran strong races and finished in the low 17:00s.

The 2010 boys' state championship run included a win at the Wilmington Invitational that really got the boys going, a 5th place finish at Maymont, a dominating win at the Tri-9 Conference Championship Meet (9th straight title), a convincing win at the Mideast Regional, and a surprisingly easy win at the 4A state meet. Well, easy may not be the right word to use, as the work put in by the boys and girls this year was not easy–anything but. Today was the results of countless hours of painful work over the past several months (and years) for the runners. There is so much to be proud of for all of you.

One of the things that stands out for the two Falcons squads are the "pack" times. Anything under 1:00 from #1-#5 is outstanding and the girls time was 33 seconds, while the boys time was 40 seconds from 1-5! Here were the state meet times on a tough course and in very cold and windy conditions:

Erica Amatori: 18:26
Mo McDonnell: 18:29
Jessie Rossabi: 18:31
Lauren Colberg: 18:34
Olivia Enright: 18:59
Shewit Weldense: 19:40
Charlotte Brown: 19:55

Ryan Walling: 16:03
Ben Girodias: 16:21
Joe Hagan: 16:27
Daniel Glover: 16:27
Tom Nobles: 16:43
Logan Cones: 17:14
Ryan Michael: 17:17

Congratulations GHXC for an amazing year. Thanks to all those who helped make it possible, from the runners, to coaches, to parents. Thanks to all the seniors for your hard work. To the underclassmen, we are on top today, but it is even harder to stay on top than it is to get there. The rest of the state will be chasing us, so from the first runner to the last, it is important that we continue to work hard and try to take our effort to an even higher level. Remember, GHXC Rolls Deep!