South Pointe’s boys put five runners in the top six to win the team title with 18 points, and Northwestern’s girls edged Lake Wylie and South Pointe by a combined seven points to win on their home course Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Northwestern Home Meet 3 at Northwestern High School in Rock Hill.
South Pointe senior Reece Adams won the boys 5,000 meter race in 16:39.98, and South Pointe senior Libba Faircloth won the girls race in 19:13.06. Five teams competed: Northwestern, South Pointe, Lake Wylie, Rock Hill High School and Riverwalk Academy.
South Pointe Boys Dominate the Front
Adams led a South Pointe sweep of the top two spots, finishing 10.59 seconds ahead of sophomore teammate Hunter Willis, who ran 16:50.57. Lake Wylie sophomore Maitland Vanourny broke up the Stallions’ pack by taking third in 17:10.60.
South Pointe then filled fourth through sixth. Junior Copeland Crawford ran 17:15.10, sophomore Gray Shelton finished in 17:26.47 and junior Noah Frazier crossed in 17:39.06. The five scorers averaged 17:10 and were separated by 59 seconds.
Northwestern finished second with 52 points, and the Trojans ran as a tight group. Senior Seth Ayers led the team in eighth place at 17:47.46, followed by sophomore Alex Miller in ninth (18:02.43), senior Mason Kingsford in 10th (18:11.17), senior Scott Bushman in 12th (18:25.08) and senior Andrew Morton in 13th (18:30.95). Only 43 seconds separated Northwestern’s first and fifth runners, the smallest spread of any team in the boys race, and the team’s sixth and seventh runners, Jaxson Owens and Carter Odom, finished 14th and 15th.
Lake Wylie placed third with 62 points. Behind Vanourny, junior Gavin Burton ran 17:44.16 for seventh and junior Sahij Gill finished 11th in 18:17.33. Owen Vanourny and freshman Mason Berryhill rounded out the scoring in 20th and 21st.
Rock Hill High School was fourth with 125 points, led by sophomore Logan Worden in 16th at 18:42.66. Riverwalk Academy scored 129 points for fifth, with freshman Declan Love placing 18th in 18:50.85.
Northwestern Girls Win by Five Points
The girls team race came down to depth. South Pointe had three of the top five finishers, but Northwestern placed all five scorers in the top 11 to win with 39 points. Lake Wylie scored 44 and South Pointe 46.
Faircloth won by nearly 30 seconds over Northwestern senior Grace Harvey, who took second in 19:42.99. South Pointe junior Ella Hopkins was third in 20:21.15, Lake Wylie junior Madeline Bessman was fourth in 21:23.82 and South Pointe senior Lydia Thompson placed fifth in 21:38.43.
Behind Harvey, Northwestern’s scorers arrived in a cluster. Senior Chloe Laval finished seventh in 21:46.46, sophomore Piper Lumsden ninth in 22:00.69, senior Skyler Laval 10th in 22:00.89 and sophomore Bristol McKinnon 11th in 22:09.98. Freshmen Ashlyn Alosi and Margaret Cope finished 13th and 15th as the team’s sixth and seventh runners.
Lake Wylie leaned on two eighth graders. Emerson Riha placed sixth in 21:46.00, less than half a second ahead of Chloe Laval, and Lucinda Woodard was eighth in 21:52.29. Junior Makenna Young (12th) and freshman Eva Quintana (14th) completed the Lake Wylie scoring, and the team’s top five finished within 1 minute, 26 seconds of each other.
South Pointe’s chances turned on its fourth and fifth runners. Freshman Eden Bryant placed 16th and junior Emma Kate Wise placed 21st, leaving an 8 minute, 14 second gap between the team’s first and fifth scorers.
Rock Hill High School placed fourth with 113 points, led by sophomore Nataly Smarr in 27th at 25:57.37. Riverwalk Academy had one runner in the girls race, junior Evy Carroll, who finished 21st overall in 23:47.36, and did not post a team score.
Here are the finishers by school, with overall place, grade and time. Names marked with a 7 or 8 are middle school runners.
South Pointe
Boys (team champion, 18 points)
- 1st, Reece Adams, SR, 16:39.98
- 2nd, Hunter Willis, SO, 16:50.57
- 4th, Copeland Crawford, JR, 17:15.10
- 5th, Gray Shelton, SO, 17:26.47
- 6th, Noah Frazier, JR, 17:39.06
- 17th, Lucas Watson, JR, 18:43.86
- 19th, Jett Shelton, SR, 19:07.46
- 22nd, Brody Baardseth, JR, 19:22.55
- 27th, Asher Thompson, FR, 19:54.50
- 28th, Holden Frazier, 8, 19:56.27
- 32nd, Ryan Hemphill, SO, 20:15.92
- 39th, Jackson Hurst, FR, 21:09.86
- 44th, Leo Sefchick, FR, 21:42.96
- 49th, Nico Castaneda Rivera, 8, 22:10.63
- 52nd, Kingsley Perry, JR, 22:27.94
- 53rd, Mason Thorn, JR, 22:30.56
- 57th, Grayson Frazier, 7, 23:01.12
- 66th, Levi Thompson, 7, 24:51.01
Girls (third place, 46 points)
- 1st, Libba Faircloth, SR, 19:13.06
- 3rd, Ella Hopkins, JR, 20:21.15
- 5th, Lydia Thompson, SR, 21:38.43
- 16th, Eden Bryant, FR, 23:05.51
- 34th, Emma Kate Wise, JR, 27:27.55
- 37th, Parker Hall, FR, 28:05.19
- 40th, Grace Yearta, JR, 28:44.44
- 45th, Harper Frazier, 7, 32:57.89
- 48th, Wrenn Shelton, 7, 35:57.77
Northwestern
Boys (second place, 52 points)
- 8th, Seth Ayers, SR, 17:47.46
- 9th, Alex Miller, SO, 18:02.43
- 10th, Mason Kingsford, SR, 18:11.17
- 12th, Scott Bushman, SR, 18:25.08
- 13th, Andrew Morton, SR, 18:30.95
- 14th, Jaxson Owens, SO, 18:31.44
- 15th, Carter Odom, SR, 18:40.02
- 29th, Rhett Turbeville, FR, 19:57.30
- 40th, Cole Knopf, SR, 21:23.57
- 41st, Zach Mitchell, SO, 21:25.12
- 45th, James Morgan, JR, 21:43.87
- 46th, Davidson Szymanski, FR, 21:59.07
- 47th, Noah Phillips, JR, 22:02.05
- 55th, Lukas Harvey, 7, 22:49.73
- 62nd, Aiden Kulp, 7, 24:09.80
- 63rd, William Huggins, SO, 24:19.21
- 67th, Chace Garson, JR, 25:12.16
- 68th, Kenneth Knopf, 8, 25:44.69
- 70th, Reece Belk, SO, 27:42.58
- 71st, Charles Howze, FR, 28:12.62
- 72nd, Landon McSwain, 7, 29:21.70
Girls (team champion, 39 points)
- 2nd, Grace Harvey, SR, 19:42.99
- 7th, Chloe Laval, SR, 21:46.46
- 9th, Piper Lumsden, SO, 22:00.69
- 10th, Skyler Laval, SR, 22:00.89
- 11th, Bristol McKinnon, SO, 22:09.98
- 13th, Ashlyn Alosi, FR, 22:22.01
- 15th, Margaret Cope, FR, 22:56.17
- 18th, Lily Laval, SR, 23:34.70
- 19th, Sophie McGuire, FR, 23:40.65
- 22nd, Arry Dowd, SO, 24:33.58
- 23rd, Audrey Nguyens, JR, 24:40.57
- 24th, Layla Caldwell, 7, 24:54.37
- 25th, Alyssa Ramsay, FR, 25:18.90
- 28th, Evelyn Bigger, 8, 25:59.85
- 29th, Kaylin Harvey, JR, 26:07.91
- 32nd, Natalie Troyan, JR, 27:11.30
- 33rd, Jordyn Allmon, SR, 27:23.49
- 36th, Katelyn Hess, FR, 27:43.61
- 43rd, Caroline Patton, 7, 32:08.50
- 44th, Adelaide McSwain, FR, 32:57.47
- 47th, Shamya Simon, FR, 33:29.32
- 49th, Kylee Patton, SO, 36:04.88
- 50th, Bently Kingsford, FR, 38:35.02
Lake Wylie
Boys (third place, 62 points)
- 3rd, Maitland Vanourny, SO, 17:10.60
- 7th, Gavin Burton, JR, 17:44.16
- 11th, Sahij Gill, JR, 18:17.33
- 20th, Owen Vanourny, SO, 19:10.09
- 21st, Mason Berryhill, FR, 19:14.42
- 24th, Aiden Lomas, JR, 19:40.27
- 25th, James Galbraith, SO, 19:44.93
- 30th, Liam Roberts, FR, 19:59.19
- 31st, Nicolas Galante, 8, 20:00.19
- 33rd, Thomas Kane, SO, 20:17.95
- 34th, Jonah Vance, 8, 20:18.36
- 35th, Julian Baker, SO, 20:25.14
- 36th, Evan Taylor, FR, 20:33.05
- 43rd, Michael Cruser, SO, 21:37.73
- 48th, Oliver Markowski, 7, 22:07.73
- 56th, Liam Heath, FR, 22:49.92
- 59th, Anderson Fillmore, 8, 23:13.01
- 60th, Flint Young, 8, 23:41.80
- 64th, Matt Brabham, 7, 24:36.86
- 65th, Austin Lowe, 8, 24:42.50
Girls (second place, 44 points)
- 4th, Madeline Bessman, JR, 21:23.82
- 6th, Emerson Riha, 8, 21:46.00
- 8th, Lucinda Woodard, 8, 21:52.29
- 12th, Makenna Young, JR, 22:16.02
- 14th, Eva Quintana, FR, 22:50.26
- 17th, Evelyn Blackmon, FR, 23:25.18
- 20th, Aideen Maloney, 8, 23:42.96
- 26th, Megan Blackmon, JR, 25:47.19
- 30th, Alexa Morrissey, 7, 26:30.97
- 35th, Kailyn Lowe, JR, 27:32.14
- 39th, Jocelyn Haynes, SO, 28:32.62
- 41st, Stephanie Ammon, 8, 29:32.97
- 42nd, Katharine Nielsen, 7, 31:28.20
- 52nd, Samantha Brett, 8, 42:02.04
Rock Hill High School
Boys (fourth place, 125 points)
- 16th, Logan Worden, SO, 18:42.66
- 23rd, Raylan Anderson, FR, 19:26.41
- 42nd, Jake Chadwick, JR, 21:37.34
- 50th, James Keel, 7, 22:24.23
- 51st, Beckett Flora, 7, 22:27.30
- 54th, Landon Allie, SO, 22:32.52
- 58th, Andrew Blue, JR, 23:04.42
Girls (fourth place, 113 points)
- 27th, Nataly Smarr, SO, 25:57.37
- 31st, Harper Daigle, SR, 26:37.11
- 38th, Emma Montgomery, SR, 28:06.98
- 46th, Evelyn Bocanegra Ponce, JR, 32:59.97
- 51st, Akhemi Hernandez Hobert, SO, 41:08.61
Riverwalk Academy
Boys (fifth place, 129 points)
- 18th, Declan Love, FR, 18:50.85
- 26th, Blake Willis, SO, 19:49.98
- 37th, Cameron Squibbs, SO, 20:42.00
- 38th, Bentley Harper, 8, 21:00.81
- 61st, Kemper Dorsey, JR, 23:48.74
- 69th, Blake Squibbs, FR, 26:08.41
- 73rd, John Jones, 7, 38:59.88
Girls (no team score)
- 21st, Evy Carroll, JR, 23:47.36
Results provided by Northwestern High School and Mitchell Timing via MileSplit South Carolina.
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Thomas Hyslip lives in Tega Cay with his wife and daughter. After 27 years in the U.S. Army and Federal Law Enforcement, he retired to pursue his passion for teaching. Tom is now an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida. In 2 short years he has won 10 awards from the South Carolina Press Association, including first place in column writing, education beat reporting and best podcast.
