Green Hope Cross Country

Tuesday October 18th was a very important day for the Green Hope Cross Country team.  It was the SWAC Conference Championship and only the 2nd time the conference championship was held on a Tuesday (as it is traditionally held on a Wednesday). Wake Med Soccer Park was a very busy place on this day as every runner for every team in the conference gets a chance to race 2 varsity races followed by 2 JV races all beginning at 4:00pm.  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 perfect 57 degrees at 4:00 and the boys were excited to get things going.  The boys have been one of the top teams in the state all year, but there can be surprises at the conference meet  with so few runners racing in the varsity race when compared to the traditionally large invitational meets.  It was clear that the boys would be in a good position for the team title at the halfway mark as the race was led by 2 Cary runners and then all 5 scoring runners for Green Hope were in the top 10.  The race finished in a similar manner and the boys dominated for the team title.  Luke Young (3rd place, PR 15:33) edged out Gavin Hansen (4th, 15:37) for the top spot for the Falcons, while Liam Young finished in 5th with a new PR of 15:50.  Those 3 were joined by fellow all-conference runners Andrew Vo (9th, 16:37), Dax Mahone (10th, 16:38), and Seamus O’Driscoll (12th, PR 16:44).  As a team the boys posted a very low score of 31 pts to finish 56pts ahead of 2nd place Green Level.  This is the 4th straight title for the boys and the 15th overall.  

The second race of the day was the Girl’s Championship Race.  The girls had a bit of an up-and-down season, but there were signs they were starting to put things together recently.  With 5 of the top 7 girls being seniors, the group really wanted to go out on a high note at their last conference race.  3 of the girls set huge PRs, led by Alice Emel’s time of 20:19.  She was followed by Alicia Craia (20:34), Kayla Gordon (PR of 20:43), Grace Boughton (21:09), Shea Sullivan (21:33), and Sarah Smith (PR of 21:44).  The girls finished in 6th place in the conference.  

The third race of the day was the Boy’s JV race.  This has typically been a race that Green Hope has dominated as the Falcons had won the last 20 JV conference team titles and they would be the favorites heading into the race again today.  Once again the boys dominated the race as they earned a perfect score of 15pts (going 1-2-3-4-5).  Junior Matt Dubrule won the race with a new PR of 17:35.  Not far behind him was junior Tommy Dunn (17:40), junior Theo Zalc (PR of 17:47), sophomore Logan Blake (17:49), and freshman Dhaval Pant (PR of 18:02).  32 of the boys in this race ran career PRs, as the JV boys won their 21st straight conference team title.  

The final race of the day was the Girl’s JV Race.  The Falcons had a 19 year winning streak in this race broken in 2021, but the girls hoped to step up in their final race of the year and step up they did.  The race was filled with big PRs and junior Anna Dudley led start to finish for the JV individual title (PR of 22:14).  In fact, all 5 of the scoring runners for Green Hope set career PRs.  Junior Kaitlin Elliott (2nd, PR of 22:42), junior Avery Bergamini (3rd, PR of 22:42), senior Morgan Stefanick (9th, PR of 23:05), and freshman Charis Choy (10th, PR of 23:10) rounded out the scoring.  The girls scored a very low 25pts to beat 2nd place Green Level (56) and win their 20th JV team title in 21 years.  

It was a very good end to the season for many of the Falcon runners, as there were many PRs, the teams won 3 of the 4 team races, and there were 2 individual winners.  Next up for the top 7 runners is the Mideast Regional Meet at Wake Med on October 29th.  The boys will run at 1:00 and the girls at 1:30.