Green Hope Cross Country

The Green Hope teams hit the road Saturday November 3^rdfor the 4A state meet at Ivey Redmon Park in Kernersville.  The meet marked the official culmination ofthe fall XC season. 

The boys were the defending champs, but not the favoritegoing in as Cary HS was expected to bring home the title.  All pre-meet predictions had the top 4 teamsfrom the Mideast Region (Cary, GH, PC, and Gibbons in no particular order) withBroughton (East) in the mix as well.  Aspredicted, the race was very close right from the start.  GH had several runners go out with the leadpack, but it was impossible to tell which team was in the lead.  The race announcer said it had come down toCary, Gibbons, and Green Hope.  In theend, the Falcons were edged by Cary (70-76), but had a great performance toculminate a surprising season.   Afterlosing the top 6 runners from last year the guys stepped up.  Reed Blackman and Thomas Vo earned all-statestatus and they were joined in the top 5 by Spencer Cowley, Justin Polonio andMichael Taylor.  Seth Young and DillonPatel had strong finishes to round out the top 7.  While the state title would have been nice,the boys left the meet happy with their year and the younger runners with newfound motivation to come back strong in 2019. 

The girls finished 2^nd in the regional meetand hoped for a top-5 finish Saturday, but it was not meant to be.  The race got off to a very fast start and thegirls did not go out as fast as they would have lied and tried to play catch-upfor most of the meet.  One of the top 4girls had to drop out for health reasons and the girls ended up finishing 9^thas a team.  While it was a disappointingyear overall year, seniors Bailey Fowler and Julie Tonon ended their careers ona high note.  The girls return 4 of theirtop 7 in 2019 so the hopes are high for a much better season next fall. 

2018 proved to be another successful year for theFalcons.  While the official season hasended, more than 30 runners plan to race in the Nike Southeast Regional at WakeMed on November 24^th as part of the Western Cary Track Club.