Triton girls dominate ECC meet

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on September 16, 2009 1:47 PM

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If Triton girls' cross country team is rebuilding, the remaining Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference teams do not want to see the Hawks at full strength.

After losing four of their top six runners to graduation, including the 2008 state champion, Triton seemed unsure about the 2009 season.

Once again, the Hawks are setting a high-flying pace.

Triton runners captured the first four places overall and recorded 18 points during a four-team meet contested Tuesday afternoon at Eastern Wayne. Laura Godwin led the field with a time of 22 minutes and 28 seconds. Dana Johnston (23:09), Adrian Rosalez (24:27) and Sumni Quego (24:45) rounded out the top four.

"We are actually a step behind where we were last year," said Triton head coach David Reece. "We lost four good runners last year, so it has taken some time to adjust, but I feel like we are on the right track."

Eastern Wayne captured second with 45 points, followed by Wayne Christian (85 points) and Southern Wayne (92).

Christy Interrante led the Warriors with a sixth-place effort of 26:43, followed by teammate Heather Black (26:57). Kristen Larsen (27:25) and Deborah Doran (27:53) ended up ninth and 10th, respectively.

Jennifer Price, fifth overall, concluded the meet as Wayne Christian's top runner in 26:24. Amanda Barfield (28:49) paced Southern Wayne with a 15th-place finish and teammate Kanesha Jones (29:05) ran 16th overall.

On the boys' side, Eastern Wayne's Russell Turner finished the course in 18:21 and helped the Warriors turn back the Hawks 37-42. The Saints collected third-place honors with 67 points, followed by Wayne Christian (81).

"Our guys keep getting stronger and they are getting better every day," said Warriors' head coach Sidney Myers said. "Russell is realizing what it takes to run with the best runners in the conference from South Johnston and that's his goal."

Steven Brantley (21:14) and Eric Lemmon (21:21) finished sixth and seventh, respectively, for the Warriors. Caleb Newsome and Chaz Fitzpatrick ran 11th and 12th, respectively.

Trevor Morgan (21:23) finished eighth overall to lead the Saints. Teammates Rashad McCoy (22:02) and Daniel Nilsen (22:04) rounded out the top 10.

Wayne Christian was led by Connor Jones, who finished third in 19:13. Will Massey (22:33) took 13th overall.