Alexander, Akers among area's top runners in meet

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on September 13, 2012 1:48 PM

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The Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference cross country season began on Wednesday at Eastern Wayne with four teams taking to the course.

The team that had the best day was not a member of the ECC.

Non-conference invitee Epiphany claimed first place in both the boys' and girls' races and took home first-place honors individually as well. McKinley Britt finished first among the boys in 18 minutes and 16 seconds. Lake Hoard won the girls' race in 22:13.

"Epiphany called and asked if they could come run with us today and I thought that was a fine idea," Eastern Wayne boys' head coach Sydney Myers said. "They did a great job today. You can tell that they have been running a lot already this season."

Charles B. Aycock finished second in the boys' team standings. South Johnston ran third, Eastern Wayne fourth and North Lenoir fifth.

Marvin Alexander finished third overall for the Golden Falcons in 19:30. Jerry Huffman came in fourth place two seconds behind his teammate.

Eastern Wayne was paced by Tim Cooper, who ran seventh overall in 20:40. North Lenoir's top runner was Zach Respess with a 10th-place time of 20:50.

"Our team is young, but they are working very hard so far," Myers said. "We have goals as individuals and as a team, and I think we will get there. It's just going to take time."

Eastern Wayne finished second in the girls' team standings with 56 points. C.B. Aycock took third. South Johnston and North Lenoir did not have enough runners to register a team score.

The Warriors were led by Alyssa Akers fifth-place finish in 25:32. Morgan Exum finished eighth overall in 26:02.

"I was really pleased with what I saw out our girls today," first-year Eastern Wayne girls' head coach Vince Beasley said. "This was only our third race of the year and I think we had three or four personal bests."

Cady Sheeks led C.B. Aycock with a seventh-place finish in 26:01. Kennedy Perkins finished ninth in 26:05.

The ECC teams travel to Cleveland on Sept. 19.