Green Hope Cross Country

The Green Hope varsity teams had a day off from school on Wednesday October 23^rd to run in the Tri-8 Conference Meet at Wake Med Soccer Park.  For the 1^st time in schoolhistory, the conference meet was held during the middle of the school day so it was a very different environment, but the Falcons were ready to race and temperatures cooperated as they hovered just below 60 degrees. 

The1^st race of the day was the boys championship race.  Panther Creek was slightly higher-ranked than Green Hope for most of the year, but the Falcons did prevail in the only truly head-to-head meeting as they edged PC at the Great American Cross Country Festival.  The Catamounts were slightly favored going into this race, but it was pretty apparent that this would be a two team race even before the gun fired. Right from the start the Green Hope boys went for it.  As they came up the hill nearing the halfway point the team was clearly leading.  It was just a matter of if they could hold on or not over the back portion of the trail.  As the boys hit the bottom of the hill it was obvious they would bring home the title on this day.  Thomas Vo finished as conference runner-up and not far behind him was a pack of Falcons. The boys finished with 6 of the top 8 in the conference and scored a very low 23 points to bring home the 12^th team title in schoolhistory.  The following runners earned all-conference honors:  Thomas Vo, Liam McBride, Kyle Davis-Isaac, Michael Taylor, Ben Cale, Seth Young, Sanjay Kumar,and freshman Gavin Hansen. 

The girls race followed the boys and the girls were not expected to contend with Panther Creek for the team title, but they hoped to close the gap between the two teams and improve on their times as they prepared for the regional meet in 10 days.  As expected the Catamounts were dominating the field as the girls came up the hill the first time.  Kelsey Vogel was with the lead runners.  A pack of Green Hope girls lingered in the 20-30 range.  Several of the girls made a move in the second half of the race and the team finished in a convincing runner-up spot in the conference.  Kelsey Vogel ended up 4^th and was joined on the All-Conference team by Natasha Abramowicz, Reagan McDaniel, and freshman Grace Boughton. 

Nextup for the Falcons is the Mideast Regional Meet at Carolina Horse Park on November 2^nd.