ECC cross country championships: EW girls, Aycock's Fredrick, Schlaeppi bring home titles

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on October 24, 2007 3:07 PM

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After watching his team go undefeated in conference competition this season, Eastern Wayne's girls cross country coach Sidney Myers realized the dream of his squad winning the Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference championship was a possibility.

Now it's reality.

The Warriors placed six runners among the top 15 and compiled a team score of 36 during the season-ending ECC championship meet contested Tuesday afternoon at Waynesborough Park. Wilson Hunt finished second at 42, followed by Charles B. Aycock (48).

Neither Wilson Beddingfield nor Southern Wayne fielded enough runners to post a team score.

"What the girls needed to do was run their race," said Myers, who was named ECC coach of the year. "There's some strong girls here, some fast girls. Some of our girls tend to go out and run harder than they're supposed too. They did not; they ran their race.

"They collected themselves midway through and did what they needed to do finish. I realized this was a possibility. Last year, injuries hit us the last week of the season and we just couldn't get over it. You can't get too confident."

Eastern Wayne's Leanna Kirkland finished second with a time of 24 minutes, 24 seconds; and teammate Kelly Gregorcyk was fourth in 25:24.

The Warriors' Sarah Schley (seventh), Shannon Rouse (11th), Heather Black (12th) and Sarah Ricker (15th) each earned top-15 finishes.

Aycock's Caroline Schlaeppi finished first at 24:25, nine seconds ahead of Kirkland. Schleappi also captured ECC Female Runner of the Year honors.

"I was kind of nervous," Schlaeppi said. "I was hoping our team would do well all-around. I just kept looking back to see where the next girl was. That's what mainly kept me motivated, just to keep going harder.

"I'm just so excited, and glad that an Aycock boy was a champion too."

Wilson Hunt dominated competition on the boys' side with five different Warriors finishing in the top 10. Hunt tallied a team score of 30, well ahead of Eastern Wayne's second-place mark of 62. Aycock was third at 66, followed by Wilson Beddingfield (82) and Southern Wayne (121).

Golden Falcons junior Nik Fredrick crossed the line first at 19:09, with Hunt's Bobby White a close second at 19:17. Fredrick benefited from a warm day -- and a fast start.

"It's incredibly hot out today, especially for this time of the year," Fredrick, the ECC's Male Runner of the Year said. "I kind of wasn't too happy with my time today. This course has a lot of hills ... it's good training though. From the first meet this year, I've been saying I've wanted to win the conference.

"I just changed my tactic today and got out in the front, and nobody ever passed me in the race."

Eastern Wayne's Tim Wright finished fourth with a time of 19:45, and teammate Zach Parrish was sixth at 20:32. C.B. Aycock's Dalton Denning came home ninth at 20:50.

2007 Class 3-A

Eastern Carolina Conference

Cross Country Championships

(at Waynesborough Park)

Boys

Wilson Hunt 30

Eastern Wayne 62

C.B. Aycock 66

Wilson Beddingfield 82

Southern Wayne 121

1. Nik Fredrick, C.B. Aycock 19:09

2. Bobby White, Hunt 19:17

3. Pierre Surrett, Hunt 19:38

4. Tim Wright, E. Wayne 19:45

5. Dalton Ford, Beddingfield 20:08

6. Zach Parrish, EW 20:32

7. Manuel Perez, Hunt 20:41

8. C.J. Carter, Hunt 20:48

9. Dalton Denning, CBA 20:50

10. Ryan Cox, Hunt 21:18

Girls

Eastern Wayne 36

Wilson Hunt 42

C.B. Aycock 48

1. Caroline Schlaeppi, CBA 24:25

2. Leanna Kirkland, EW 24:34

3. Meghan Hales, CBA 25:17

4. Kelly Gregorcyk, EW 25:24

5. Marian Williams, Hunt 25:34

6. Patty Mallory, Hunt 25:50

7. Sara Schley, EW 25:58

8. Katheryn Batts, Hunt 26:09

9. Lorena Estrada, CBA 26:11

10. Skylar Zee, Hunt 26:18