Britt, Dougherty shine at Cliffs of the Neuse
By From staff reports
Published in Sports on September 24, 2009 1:46 PM
SEVEN SPRINGS -- A challenging, hilly terrain became more even treacherous when a torrential rainstorm drenched the Cliffs of the Neuse State Park on Wednesday afternoon.
The wet conditions didn't bother the 60-plus runners competing in the second Carolina 1-A Conference cross country meet of the season. In fact, quality times were recorded on the 3.1-mile (5K) trek that featured inclines, uncovered tree roots, hanging branches and other obstacles.
Rosewood sophomore Nick Britt and Princeton's Hattie Dougherty emerged the top male and female runners. Britt, the runner-up last week, edged Cape Fear Christian's W.A. Myatt by five seconds -- 19 minutes, 45 seconds to 19:50.
Dougherty covered the course in 25:14 -- 11/2 minutes faster than Spring Creek's Savannah Egelston.
North Duplin, led by Victor Flores' fifth-place effort, claimed a 42-44 triumph over Princeton in the boys' team race. Teammates Caleb Day and Diego Juarez crossed the line sixth and seventh, respectively.
Will Toler paced the Dawgs with a third-place time of 20:04.
Travis Cuddington finished 10th overall to help Rosewood take third in the team chase with 78 points. Bryan Johnson's fourth-place performance and Darian Marks' 15th-place time contributed to Goldsboro's fourth-place team total of 82 points.
Spring Creek ended up fifth with 109 points. However, the Gators had one runner to slip and suffer an ankle injury on the course. His teammates stopped to help pick him up and bring him to the finish line.
On the girls' side, Princeton edged archrival Rosewood 27-28 in team competition. The Eagles placed three runners -- Holly Heath (third), Jennifer Page (fourth) and Kelsey Kornegay (sixth) -- among the top 10.
Sarah Toler, Katherine Lampe and Jessica Lewis took the seventh through ninth spots, respectively, for the Dawgs.
Mikayla Huff, for the second straight week, claimed the top finish for Goldsboro High. She crossed the finish line fifth overall in 28:31. Melissa Summerlin, the lone North Duplin runner, took 10th in 32:49.