Green Hope Cross Country

Wednesday October 20^th marked the end of the cross country season for many.  This was the date of the first conference championship (where all runners could race)since 2019 and was also the first year for the team to race in the new, realigned conference.  The conference meet is always an exciting day as all runners get to toe the line on the same day and for many it is the first time they get to truly cheer on their teammates.  As only the top 7 boys and top 7 girls will race in the regional meet the following weekend most runners know this is the last chance they have this year to get out there and go for a PR and compete with their friends and teammates. 

The first race of the afternoon was the Boy’s Championship Race.  The weather was a little unseasonably warm still at 4:00, but the boys were excited to get things going.  The boys had already picked up 3 invitational victories this year and hoped to hold another trophy at the end of the day.  They were the clear favorites going in, but sometimes the smaller races (in terms of total runners) can be more unpredictable.  At the halfway point, though, it was clear that there would be no beating the Falcons today.  There was a group of Green Hope runners just behind the front two in the race. While there was some movement among the Green Hope runners, as a team they held their position through the end. They finished with an incredible 1-5 split of 6 seconds and were led by All-Conference runners Luke Young (3^rd, 16:17), Gavin Hansen (4^th,16:19), Jacob Kurak (5^th, 16:20), Zach Taylor (6^th,16:21), Ben Cale (7^th, 16:23), and Liam Young (9^th,16:32).  This was the 3^rd straight title for the boys and the 14^th conference title overall. 

The second race of the day was the girls championship.  The girls knew they had a chance to get the title back, but some of the girls had had recent bouts with illness so it was not clear how strong they could be on this day.  There was no obvious team favorite going in and several schools were excited for the chance to win the team title.  At the halfway point Panther Creek appeared strong, but several teams were in the mix. When it all shook out the girls finished in a strong second place.  The girls were led by All-Conference runners Katie Foppiano (8^th, 20:07) and Alicia Craia (14^th,20:32).  The other scoring runners were Grace Boughton (15^th, 20:32), Alice Emel (11^th, 20:50),and Kaela Brandon (23^rd, 21:03). 

The third race of the day was the boy’s JV race.  This has typically been a race that GreenHope has dominated as the Falcons had won the last 19 JV conference team titles and they would be the favorites heading into the race again today.  One of their top runners was a late scratch due to sickness and early on it was evident this might be a two team race between the Falcons and the Patriots of Apex Friendship.  While it turned out to be one of the closer battles the boys JV has had in the Conference Meet, the team still pulled out a convincing win 20-39 over the runner-ups. Sophomore Sebastian Percival-Shim led start to finish winning the JV titlein 17:38.  Tanner Harris (18:08), Cyrus Jahromi (18:15), Saahil Patel (18:20), and Tommy Dunn (18:36) rounded out the scoring.  Many of the boys in the race set career PRs including several seniors. 

The final race of the day was the girl’s JV race.  For the 1^st time in 20 years the girls did not take home the team title, but they finished as the team runner-ups by only 7pts.  Sophomore Lily Slaughter also led start to finish and took home the individual title with a big career PR of 22:18.  Kayla Gordon finished in 3^rdwith a season best time of 22:51, while freshman Sarah Smith (PR of 23:11),freshman Paige Luecke (23:17), and sophomore Gwen Slaughter (PR of 23:39) scored points for the team as well. 

It was a very good end to the season for many of the Falcon runners.  Next up for the top 7runners is the Mideast Regional Meet at Wake Med on October 30^th.  The boys will run at 11:00 and the girls at 11:30.