Eastern Wayne dashes past Hunt

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on August 27, 2009 1:47 PM

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Eastern Wayne picked up the pace just in the knick of time.

As the team's second race of the season came down to the final half mile, it looked as though Wilson Hunt was going to out-pace the host Warriors and claim a non-conference cross country victory.

Eastern Wayne came to life down the stretch and claimed a 21-35 dual meet win.

"It didn't look real good there for a minute," said Eastern Wayne boys' head coach Sidney Myers said. "With a mile to go we were losing. Then our guys took it upon themselves to pull together and move up as a group."

Russell Turner crossed the finish line in first place with a time of 19 minutes and 26 seconds, nearly a minute faster than teammate and runner-up Caleb Cooper (20:25).

Hunt's Manuell Perez came home in third (20:34).

Hunt's Lorenzo Bardill finished in fourth place, but was followed by a trio of Eastern Wayne runners, Denzel Benjamin (22:25), Cole Newsome (22:32) and Erik Lemmon (22:35).

"Those three really came through for us," said Myers. "Russell just keeps getting stronger and he ran really well today. But we don't win if those guys 2-7 don't come in strong."

With runners battling temperatures in the 90's for the second straight week, Myers was proud of his team's effort to claim its first dual meet win of the season.

"It was just so hot out there today," said Myers. "Our guys gave it all they have and that's all you can ask for as a coach."

On the girls' side, Hunt did not have enough runners to record a team score.

Eastern Wayne's Heather Black finished first in 27:44, followed by teammate Ashley Jarrett in 29:06. Hunt's Alexis Cunningham was the visitors' top finisher.

"I think this is a nice win for our girls confidence," said Eastern Wayne head coach Colleen Hennessey. "We have a lot of new faces this year, both freshmen and first-year runners so it's nice to get a win."

Eastern Wayne will host the first Eastern Carolina Conference meet on Tuesday at Waynesborough Park. The meet begins at 5 p.m.