Green Hope Cross Country

     As this crazy Covid-impacted cross country season continues, the Falcons toed the line for the Tri-8 Conference Championship on asunny January afternoon.  Not only was this the first-ever January race, but it also marked the end of the current Tri-8Conference as Jordan, Riverside, Hillside, and Athens Drive will be replaced next fall with Holly Springs, Middle Creek, Apex, and Apex Friendship.  Finally, this would be the first time that teams had to qualify from the conference meet to make the Mideast Regional Meet (in an effort to keep meet sizes down due to Covid).  The top 4 teams from the conference meet would move on to the regional meet. 

     The first race of the day was the boys race.  The boys were the defending conference champions, but Cary was the clear-cut favorite to win this year heading into the race.  The guys went out fast and as the boys came up the hill the first time it was clear that we were right in this.  Gavin Hansen and Ben Cale were just behind the leaders and the rest of the group was not far behind.  Scoring the race at the halfway point put GH in the lead, but there was still a lot of racing ahead.  As the boys entered the final, long uphill towards the finish the Green Hope fans that were there began cheering loudly as the guys were giving themselves a shot at the title.  With strong finishes and lots of PRs the boys pulled off the upset with a fairly comfortable 8pt win over Cary to defend their title, punch their ticket to regionals, and give them their 13 overall conference championship.  All 7 boys earned All-Conference:  Luke Young (PR of 16:20), Gavin Hansen (PR of 16:22), Ben Cale (PR of 16:26), Jacob Kurak (16:34), Zach Taylor (PR of 16:42), Andrew Vo (PR of 16:53), and Kyle Davis-Isaac (17:04). 

     The second race of the day was the girls championship.  Once again, Panther Creek was the clear favorite and one of the top teams in the state. The real fight would be for spots 2-4 to earn a trip to the regional meet as Green Hope, Green level, Athens Drive and Cary were after 3 bids.  Kaela Brandon went out fast right from the gun and then the girls settled in.  GraceBoughton was in about 7^th place coming up the hill with Katie Foppiano and Kaela not far behind.  The girls battled throughout the race as they knew what was at stake.  When they hit the bottom of the final hill it appeared that team places 2-5 may be decided on that last, long 600 meter hill.  When the dust cleared the girls were edged out by Green Level (75-80), but held onto third place to advance to regionals (Athens Drive narrowly beat Cary for the last spot).  4 girls managed to earn All-Conference:  Kaela Brandon (PR of 20:26), Grace Boughton (20:32), Katie Foppiano (PR of 20:41), and Reagan McDaniel (21:15).