Green Hope Cross Country

There was little drama heading into the 2012 Tri-9 Conference Championships in terms of which teams would win the team titles. The Cary boys have been very strong all year and the Green Hope girls have been the top-ranked 4A team all year. The team races were more about how the teams would finish after the 1st place squads. In the end the Falcons girls varsity dominated on the way to their 10th team title in 11 years, scoring a very low 22 pts. The boys finished a somewhat disappointing 3rd, but several runners ran personal bests. It will take several runners stepping up to have a chance to qualify for the state meet at regionals. Finally, both the JV girls and boys cruised to their 11th straight titles in dominating fashion.

Boys Varsity Race: From the start of the race, the boys were in 3rd place and the race played out just as it started as the team was never really in contention for the runner-up spot and never really threatened by the 4th place team. Tom Nobles ran a solid 16:23 to earn the only all- conference spot on the boys side. Ryan Michael set a PR of 17:05 while running a very smart race and Jonathan Bakley PR’d by 35 seconds as he ran 17:05 as well.

Girls Varsity Race: As expected the girls dominated the race start to finish. Mo McDonnell battled Panther Creek’s Rebecca Greengrass from the start and eventually edged her out for Mo’s 2nd straight Conference MVP award. Not far behind the front two was Green Hope junior Kristen Lospinoso who finished in 18:49. After one runner from Athens Drive, 6 GH runners rounded out the top 10 (including 3 freshmen and a sophomore). Katie Tomasi, Allie Worsdale, Kayla Hall, Julia Zwierzynski, Theresa Enright, and Taylor Howard all earned all-conference as Green Hope placed 8 runners in the top 10. While the story to take away would be Mo winning another title and the girls pack slowly beginning to form as they prepare for regionals and states a side story emerging this year is the depth of the underclassmen on the girls side. 3 of the top 7 finishers were 9th graders and Enright is only a sophomore. Green Hope had all 12 girls in the top 23 runners for the 9 team conference and that list is made up of 3 9th graders, 3 10th graders, and an 11th grader.

Girls JV Race: The depth on the girls side is always evident in the JV race, but again the number of very talented underclassmen is impressive to say the least. The first 9 finishers in the race were GH runners as were 19 of the 1st 21 finishers. The team earned another perfect score in the race which has become a yearly ritual. The first 9 finishers in the race included 6 freshmen, 2 sophomores and a senior. The future looks very bright for the Falcons. Individually, Brianne Vasarhelyi (20:36) edged Natsumi Koyama (20:40) for the title, as the pair was followed by a close pack of runners (21:02-21:10) that included Sheridan Wood, Meaghan Nazareth (big PR of 21:06 in her last race!), Sydney Burns, and Amena Saad. Katie Surratt, Martina Savage, and Gillian Hagenus also finished in the top 10.

Boys JV Race: The leaders for the boys JV team went right to the front early as the top 4 runners in the race were Falcons as the group crested the large hill for the first time. In terms of team scoring, though, Apex was in striking distance as the runners entered the woods and neared the two mile mark. It was clear, though, that as the first wave approached the chute the Falcons had secured another team title. The Falcons were led by a great race from Ted MacCabe, as Ted (coming off an injury) won the individual title by running a PR of 17:47. Ted was followed in the top 11 by Max Blackington (17:51), Patrick Stylski (17:57), Ashish Amin (18:12), Jonah Skousen (18:19), Kevin Kronk (18:21), Sam Gallant (18:22), and Matthew Horan (18:26). Once again, the boys showed great depth as 42 Green Hope runners broke 20:00 on the day and 5 freshmen boys either ran in the varsity race (top 11) or finished in the top 11 overall in the JV race.