Green Hope Cross Country

The Falcons had to wait around Saturday morning before heading over to Kernersville Saturday afternoon for the North Carolina 4A state championship. The girls were seeking their 5^th straight state title, while the boys were very excited to make it back to the meet after a 2 year absence. Course conditions were good and the skies were free of anymore rain after a wet Friday. The 3A and 1A boys and girls got the racing going in the morning and then the 2A and 4A boys and girls took the stage in the afternoon.

The boys toed the starting line at 3:00PM and in terms of who would win the team title there was not any drama. The Broughton boys cruised to victory and may have secured their spot as the best team in the state’s history. The real battle was for the 2^nd through 8^th spots in the team race as anything could happen with those teams. Green Hope did not run quite as well as last weekend, but fought hard throughout the race and finished in a very respectable sixth place. Tom Nobles took it out hard and finished 14^th after a ninth place Mideast Regional finish. Tom ends his career as one of the top runners to ever wear a Green Hope uniform.

• Tom Nobles: 15:56
• Brad Pehr: 16:44
• Jonathan Bakley: 16:51
• Will Jordan: 16:51
• Henry Pehr: 16:58
• Carter Lux: 17:00
• Michael Kolor: 18:02

The girls race went off at 4:00PM and was the second to last race of the day. The girls were very excited and a bit nervous to race after a long, long day. Green Hope always has a target on its back and today was no different. Going into the race it appeared to almost be a toss-up as to who would win the team title between Green Hope, Providence, and Myers Park. It was obvious from the get-go that this was going to be a nail-biter. Elly Henes went out hard and ran with the lead pack. Theresa Enright and Katie Tomasi were not far back, but as all the girls entered the home stretch it appeared the team scores would be too close to call due to all of the individual runners (with no team) being removed from the results. Elly used a strong finish to run an amazing time of 17:42 and finish third overall (and 1^st team all-state). Theresa and Katie also set PRs and were followed by Reilly Caldwell, Elisa Sargent, Sarah Taylor, and Kelly Fitzgerald.

It was a long wait for the team results, but when the wait was over, the girls laid claim to their 5^th straight state title! They ended up edging out a dark horse TC Roberson team 81-91 followed by Myers Park and Providence. This was the closest of all of the Falcons titles and each girl did her part to help bring home the title. Elly also moved into the #1 all-time on the Green Hope 5K list. It is quite an accomplishment for the girls to bring home yet another state title and back up their top 20 national ranking.

• Elly Henes: 17:42
• Theresa Enright: 18:25
• Katie Tomasi: 18:45
• Reilly Caldwell: 19:00
• Elisa Sargent: 19:14
• Sarah Taylor: 19:47
• Kelly Fitzgerald: 20:11

Congrats to everyone for another great year! All runners represented Green Hope extremely and it was another successful year on the trails. Keep up the great work and remember, GHXC rolls deep.