Eastern Wayne runners race against the clock, not Bruins

By Rob Craig
Published in Sports on September 26, 2007 3:02 PM

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Tim Wright chased a win.

Kelly Gregorcyk hunted down the boys.

Other runners pursued their own record.

The Eastern Wayne cross country team had a variety of opponents on Tuesday afternoon due to a scheduling mishap. Instead of having a tri-meet with Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference members Wilson Hunt and Wilson Beddingfield, it turned into a dual meet against the Bruins.

Since Beddingfield brought just four runners, the host Warriors focused on improving personal records.

"Even though they couldn't compete as a team we always try to tell them that they're running to improve their own abilities," said Eastern Wayne coach Vince Beasley. "They are looking at the times they ran in the last meet and are always trying to set a personal record."

Right off the bat, Eastern Wayne's Wright looked to chase down his second career win to go with a best time. Earlier this season, Wright had lost to Bruins' runner Dalton Ford by one second. Tuesday, Wright made sure that didn't happen again.

Wright opened up a lead of about 10 links between himself and Ford at the half-way mark. The gap would close, and with less than a mile remaining on the 3.1-mile course, Ford was just footsteps away.

"We kept pushing each other the whole race," said Wright. "When it came to the end I was so tired, but I kicked it."

Wright came down the final stretch with a sizable lead that he never relinquished. He beat his personal best time by 10 seconds with a time of 18 minutes, 34 seconds. Wright also took down Ford by 34 seconds for his first top finish in 2007.

Eastern Wayne team captain Stefan Henshaw ended up third with a time of 19:44. Teammate and freshman Zach Parrish finished fifth at 20:41.

"Stefan's been doing well and has shown us a lot of leadership," said Beasley. "Zach has done an outstanding job this season."

Gregorcyk didn't have the same luxury of running against a competitor as Wright did. With no Bruins' runners and second-place finisher Shannon Rouse two minutes behind, Gregorcyk focused on the boys.

"It's hard to tell how well you're doing when you're running by yourself," she said. "I try to pace myself as best as I can. I just pick off some of the guys."

Gregorcyk picked off three on her way to a first-place finish and a time of 23:18 -- her second-best effort of the season.

"She's been pushing herself hard," said Beasley. "She's got a competition going with (Charles B. Aycock runner) Caroline Schlaeppi. They run neck and neck, and every time at the end, Caroline beats her.

"So her goal is to improve her time to where she can come out ahead at the conference meet."

And that is Eastern Wayne's focus. With the boys' (11-2 overall, 8-1 ECC) and girls' (10-1, 8-0 ECC) teams are off to outstanding starts, there was plenty of talk regarding the final conference meet.

"I tell the kids, your goal is go to conference and do the best they can," said Beasley. "I tell them if they're doing the best they can, then you can't be disappointed with how the season turns out."

Boys

1. Tim Wright, E. Wayne 18:34

2. Dalton Ford, Beddingfield 19:08

3. Stefan Henshaw, EW 19:44

4. Jimmy Baker, B 20:22

5. Zach Parish, EW 20:41

6. Tyler Thornton, EW 20:53

7. J.C. Cook, EW 21:47

8. Juaquan Savage, B 22:04

9. Ryan Phillips, B 22:11

10. Keith Gregorcyk, B 22:30

11. Myles Potter, EW 23:04

12. Andrew Cummins, EW 24:35

13. Anthony Musses, EW 25:07

14. John Mitchell, EW 25:34

Girls

1. Kelly Gregorcyk, E. Wayne 23:18

2. Shannon Rouse, EW 25:55

3. Sarah Schley, EW 26:23

4. Leanna Kirkland, EW 26:25

5. Heather Black, EW 26:28

6. Sarah Ricker, EW 29:13

7. Caitlin Turner, EW 33:34