Eastern Wayne's Lawrence emerges 3-A regional champion

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 31, 2005 2:07 PM

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RED OAK -- Eastern Wayne senior Michael Lawrence emerged the 2005 N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 3-A Eastern Regional men's cross-country champion Saturday at Nash Central.

Lawrence recorded a personal-best time of 16 minutes, 39 seconds on the 3.1-mile course and defeated West Carteret senior Matt Stallsworth by nearly seven seconds. Teammate Joey Burridge claimed the next-best time, a 43rd-place finish in 18:48.4.

The Warriors finished 10th overall in the 17-team field.

Allen Bennett, a sophomore at Southern Wayne, finished 45th overall in 18:49.7. Charles B. Aycock senior Alan Toler and sophomore Dalton Denning ended up 60th and 64th, respectively.

Eastern Wayne senior Helen Baddour captured 32nd overall in 22:14.4 during the girls' portion of the meet. C.B. Aycock senior Rebekka Katko, a native of Finland, claimed 39th place in 22:29.1.

The Warriors wound up 12th as a team, while Aycock finished 14th.

A total of 234 runners -- men and women -- competed.

Lawrence will represent the Eastern Carolina Conference as its lone male runner in next Saturday's NCHSAA Championships at Tanglewood Park in Winston-Salem.

No teams qualified.

2-A Mideast

PITTSBORO -- Goldsboro's Danielle Irby collected a 38th-place finish in the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 2-A Eastern Regional women's meet contested Saturday at Northwood High.

Irby ran the 3.1-mile course in 22 minutes, 47 seconds. Meanwhile, teammate Stacy Edmond ended up 77th in 26:29.

Greene Central's Ashley Oakes and Blair Carraway crossed the finish line in 59th and 60th, respectively. The Rams' Rachel Patty wound up 82nd in 29:05.

On the boys' side, Greene Central's Tony Tyson recorded a 49th-place time of 18:22. His top-50 effort and Lance Murray's 66th-place performance sparked the Rams to a 12th-place finish overall.

Chris Nethercutt, Andrew Jarman and Cameron Taylor rounded out the Rams' scoring.

Goldsboro's Kendran Coleman (102nd) and Donald Irby (104th) posted times of 24:06 and 25:30, respectively.

1-A Mideast

ROCKY POINT -- Spring Creek's Eric Walters grabbed fifth overall and Princeton's women earned a second-place team finish in the 2005 N.C. High School Athletic Association Mideast Regional ran Saturday at Heide Trask.

Walters, a senior, covered the 3.1-mile course in 19 minutes, 7.24 seconds. Teammate Pat Wilkens seized ninth with a time 19:36.34. Sophomore Alex Casey, junior Daniel Correll and junior Daniel Harris also contributed to the Gators' five-runner score.

Spring Creek qualified as a team for next week's NCHSAA Championships at Tanglewood Park in Winston-Salem.

Princeton sophomore Chris Hinton was 18th overall in 20:07.09. Michael Mathis emerged the top runner for North Duplin with a 15th-place time of 20:01.62.

The Bulldog girls placed four runners among the top 10, but dropped a 34-40 decision to Topsail in the team championship race. Senior Heather Braswell and junior Courtney Yancey turned in third- and fourth-place times, respectively.

Olivia Booker was eighth in 23:15.87, while Maegan Hewett took 10th in 23:22.56. Teammate Haylee Wood finished 23rd overall in 25:54.28.

North Duplin's Rocio Alvaredo and Amy Hicks placed 11th and 22nd, respectively.

NCISAA 1-A

HENDERSONVILLE -- Wayne Christian's Doug Johnson finished 15th overall in the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A Championship meet contested Saturday at Jackson Park.

Johnson ran the 3.1-mile course in 20 minutes, 3 seconds.

Justin Brathwaite (39th, 22:09), Jon Massey (46th, 22:46), Travis Thomas (54th, 23:24) and Aaron Summerville (59th, 26:13) also contributed to the Eagles' team score. Hunter Dentzler finished two spots behind Summerville

Wayne Christian's girls, led by Jennifer Price, finished seventh overall. Price recorded a time of 24:42. Shelle Anderson was 38th, followed by Kayla Kennedy (49th), Terrie Nelson (50th) and Martha Summerlin (53rd).