Aycock's Alexander emerges victorious on Warriors' home course

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on September 27, 2012 1:48 PM

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Cleveland may be on its way out of the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference, but it is making its presence felt before it goes.

The Rams claimed the boys' portion of a three-team, Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference meet and finished second on the girls' side Wednesday afternoon at Eastern Wayne.

The Rams placed five male runners in the top 10 and compiled a team score of 34 in the boys' event. Charles B. Aycock was second with 37 points and Eastern Wayne finished third with a score of 52.

The Golden Falcons' Marvin Alexander was the top boys' runner with a time of 19 minutes, 22 seconds. Teammate Jerry Huffman was second in 19:45. Josh Bartz earned a seventh-place finish in 20:51 and Peyton Cline was 11th in 21:03.

The Warriors were paced by Tim Cooper's third-place finish of 20:05. Teammate Jeremy Murray was eighth with a time of 20:54. Sawyer Thompson crossed the line in 12th-place with a time of 21:19.

"The guys are improving their times every time they go out there," Eastern Wayne boys' coach Sydney Myers said. "They run extremely hard. They work hard in practice. The pack is getting closer together. I couldn't be happier with the progress they have made right now."

Matthew Boumemberg led Cleveland with a time of 22:26 that was good enough for fourth place. Pratik Ambelal (20:32) was fifth in 20:32, just ahead of teammate Robert Griggs' time of 20:36.

The Warriors claimed three of the top seven spots on the girls' side and tallied a team score of 36. The Rams were second with 43 points and Aycock was third with 49.

Cleveland's Claire Kuppler was the top female runner with a time of 23:59. Teammate Alexandra Nikas finished third in 25:08 and Cheyenne Wall was fifth in 25:38.

Alyssa Akers led Eastern Wayne with a second-place finish in 24:52. Ashley Aimes was fourth in 25:24 and Morgan Exum crossed the line in seventh-place with a time of 25:45.

"They set goals for themselves and they are working toward achieving those goals," Warriors' girls' coach Vince Beasley said. "I'm trying to teach them to run in a tighter pack and run together and they're doing that.

"Cleveland pushes us and it is great to have that competition. We will miss them next year, but next year we will have even bigger competition."

Kennedy Perkins led the Golden Falcons with a sixth-place finish in 25:42. Sabrina Johnson was eighth with a time of 25:49 just ahead of teammates Ariel Strickaland (26:07) and Cady Sheeks (26:10).

The ECC teams visit C.B. Aycock on Oct. 3.