By David Rogers. MORGANTON, N.C. — Although neither the Watauga men or women captured the top individual spots in the Northwestern Conference Pre-Conference cross country meet on Sept. 11, both captured the team titles.
Women’s Division
After Makenzie Jordan (North Carolina School of Math and Sciences) finished No. 1 with a blistering time of 22:03 and Ashe County’s Emory Taylor took the No. 2 spot in 23:54, Watauga came in numbers and all five scorers finished the 5,000-meter course within about a minute of each other, including No. 3 Sadie Buchanan, No. 4 Janie Beach Verhay, No. 5 Winter Shaw, No. 6 Sophie Parker, and No. 7 Lainey Johnston.
The Pioneers seemed to come in waves. Runners from NC School of Math and Science, Ashe, Hibriten and Draughn picked up the next few spots, then it was No. 14 Sophie McVoy before No. 20 Sydney Cate Townsend, No. 21 Maggie Visser, No. 22 Carrie Bradbury, No. 23 Keatyn Wuest, No. 23 Scarlett Rupp, and a 4-way tie at No. 26 with Elyse Rea, Katherine Rex, Madden Maple, and Julian Martinez-Jaime.
In total, there were 58 women competing in the race and 33 of them were Pioneers. With the top five runners from each team contributing to the team score, Watauga’s No. 3 through No. 7 placings handily won the team title, with 59 points (lowest score wins, in cross country), followed by NC School of Math and Science (97), Ashe County (145), Draughn (155), Hibriten (168) and Freedom (221).
MEN’S DIVISION
Watauga’s top finisher in the Men’s Division was Andreas Roman at No. 8, but that opened a virtual floodgate of Pioneers, including No. 9 Santino Wood, a tie at No. 10 shared by Jonah Norris and Holden Womak, No. 12 Levi Anderson, No. 13 Elliott Taft and No. 14 A.J. McAulay.
Then, after a couple more Math & Science runners, it was another wave of Pioneers in Calvin Zwetsloot, Grady Gates, Zeke Walker, Cameron Nance, Isaac James, and Hayden Walker.
All totaled, there were 53 young men competing, and 23 of them were Pioneers. Top honors went to Hibriten’s Christopher Church, followed by Everett Tucker (NC Math & Science), Tray Powell (Draughn), Jonah Griggs and Christopher Uren (Freedom) and then two more NC Math athletes, Lucas Nagel and Lucas Lyons, before the first wave of Pioneers.
Team Scores
- Watauga (75)
- NC School of Math & Science (83)
- Freedom (146)
- Hibriten (177)
- Draughn (196)
- Ashe County (221)
