Saints' Gardner takes 2nd in meet

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on October 22, 2008 1:46 PM

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No mistakes this time.

Wilson Hunt's Pierre Surrette returned to Waynesborough Park with a chip on his shoulder, and that motivation led to a first-place finish in the Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference cross country championship on Tuesday.

Surrette crossed the finish line in 17 minutes and 57 seconds. The victory was particularly well received due to an earlier conference meet where Surrette made a wrong turn at Waynesborough and cost himself a win.

"This was really important to me. It was good to come back and redeem myself on this course," said Surrette. "I am really proud to be the conference champion, especially with such good competition like we had here today."

Hunt also claimed the ECC team title with 43 points.

Eastern Wayne finished second overall with 61 team points. Charles B. Aycock and Southern Wayne tied for third with 75 points. The Golden Falcons won the tiebreaker with a higher finish by the team's sixth overall runner.

The Saints' Chase Gardner sprinted home second overall in 18:25.

"I was happy to run as well as I did today," said Gardner. "I got behind Pierre and just tried to measure his steps so I could get his pace.

"Sometimes you see (Surrette) out there in front of you and you swear he isn't human, so I just tried to stay as close behind him as I could in the final mile."

Eastern Wayne' Russell Turner and Zach Parrish finished third and fourth, respectively. Charles B. Aycock was paced by Eric Dubose's seventh place effort. Southern Wayne's Khalil Artis claimed eighth place and Eastern Wayne's Caleb Cooper crossed the stripe in 10th.

In the girls' race, Eastern Wayne earned the ECC team championship with 41 points. Charles B. Aycock finished second with 44 points and Wilson Hunt (55) raced home in third.

"I am so proud of these girls for all that they have accomplished," said Eastern Wayne head coach Jan Metzler. "They have worked hard individually, but more importantly they have really worked well together."

Wilson Hunt's Maria Williams finished first individually in 22:06.

Leanna Kirkland paced the Eastern Wayne effort with a second place individual time of 22:18. Teammate Kelly Gregorcyk followed in 22:24.

"We were without two runners, one due to illness and one due to a death in her family," said Metzler. "I told our girls before the race, let's not be drama queens, but let's think about the girls who couldn't be here today and run for them."

Metzler was named co-ECC coach of the year and her team received the sportsmanship award.

"I am way more proud of the sportsmanship award," Metzler said. "That says a lot about the character of the girls, and how well they handle themselves."

Southern Wayne was paced by Yolanda Rodriguez's fourth-place finish (23:23). Megan Hales (23:46) emerged C.B. Aycock's top finisher.