Indian Land won both the boys and girls team titles at the Lancaster County Championship on Oct. 17 at Lancaster High School, with the Warriors girls posting a perfect score of 15 points.
The meet brought together runners from Indian Land, Lancaster and Andrew Jackson high schools for a 5,000 meter race in each division. Indian Land placed runners throughout the top of both fields, taking the first six spots in the girls race and six of the top seven in the boys race.
Indian Land girls sweep the top six
Sophomore Charleigh Moore won the girls race in 21:04.70, finishing 44 seconds ahead of freshman teammate Zoe Halm, who placed second in 21:49.10. Senior Aubrea Boncore was third in 21:51.20, just over two seconds behind Halm.
Junior Mollie Pope (23:14.30), sophomore Ruby Sauer (23:19.30) and sophomore Channing Turner (23:33.70) filled out places four through six. A perfect score in cross country requires a team to take the first five places, the lowest total possible.
Indian Land’s top five averaged 22:15, with 2 minutes, 14 seconds separating its first and fifth runners.
Lancaster finished second with 60 points. Freshman Vivienne Bartlett led the Bruins in seventh place at 23:43.10, with junior Khloe Martinez close behind in eighth at 23:44.30. Junior Eliana Thompson placed 16th overall.
Andrew Jackson was third with 64 points. Junior Shaelynn Walls placed ninth in 23:54.00, and seventh grader Tinley Knight finished 12th in 25:26.00.
Smith takes the boys individual title
Andrew Jackson junior Ryder Smith won the boys race in 17:04.10, holding off Indian Land senior Mitchell Bergman by about six seconds. Bergman finished second in 17:10.40.
Indian Land then took the next five places. Eighth grader Beckett Bender (18:15.00) and sophomore Robert Demastus (18:15.40) finished four tenths of a second apart in third and fourth. Freshman Sathila Mudalige was fifth in 18:34.70, sophomore Liam Ramsdill was sixth in 18:56.10 and senior Keenen Blackburn was seventh in 19:25.80.
The Warriors scored 20 points to win the team title. Their top five averaged 18:14, with 1 minute, 45 seconds between their first and fifth finishers.
Andrew Jackson placed second with 42 points. Junior Carson Sowell finished eighth for the Volunteers in 19:45.00, and junior Colin Cauthen was 12th in 22:04.00.
Lancaster did not post a boys team score. Senior Zacchaeus Jeter led the Bruins in 10th place at 20:11.90, and junior Aiden Martinez was 11th in 20:15.70.
Full individual and team results are available on 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.
