Saints' Atwood, Womble developing a rivalry

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 2, 2014 1:52 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

DUDLEY -- Southern Wayne teammates Cole Atwood and Anthony Womble are starting to develop a rivalry during cross country meets this season.

One week, Womble takes first.

The next week, Atwood has the better day.

But neither could catch fleet-footed Marcellous White on Wednesday afternoon. The New Bern senior ran a blistering 17 minutes, 44 seconds on the 5k course during a four-team Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference race held on the Saints' home trek.

Teammate Nicholas Kirby captured third and three teammates captured ninth through 11th to give the Bears a meet-best 34 points. Atwood (18:31) and Womble (4th, 18:41) helped the Saints collect 45 points.

D.H. Conley placed two runners among the top 10 and finished with 58 points. Charles B. Aycock, led by Joseph Mooneyham and Hunter Crane, amassed 104 points.

"The heat was getting me. It's just like any other race, you've got to keep pushing, get a good pace going," said Atwood, who speculated that he ran a season-best time. "I got off to a fast start, which is how I run. I figured I finished pretty well."

More than 80 runners tackled a relatively flat course that has a few hills to maneuver when they go into and come out of the woods. The course also takes the runners around the track and in front of the school.

White said he ran against time.

"I needed to do that for motivation," White said. "It was a good time, but I could do a little better. This is my senior year ... get ready for conference, regional and state, so that's the mindset I'm at.

"Running through the woods, it was nice and smooth. I like the turns and bends. It got a little crowded, had to weave myself through and create some room."

Mooneyham started slow and climbed into the top 10 after his first tour through the woods. He ended up with an 18:51 -- good enough for sixth place among the 57 competitors. Crane logged time of 22:59.

New Bern turned in a dominating performance on the girls' side, taking the top four spots and placing five runners among the top seven. The Bears were two points shy (17) of a perfect score (15), while Conley earned second place with 34 points.

C.B. Aycock was a distant third with 82 points, followed by Southern Wayne with 96. The Golden Falcons' Gregory earned ninth place overall with a time of 24:54, while teammates Erin Waters (27:11) and Georgia Parnell (27:26) crossed the line 15th and 17th, respectively.

The Saints' Arineda Morales (25:50) and Dixie Ramirez (26:36) finished 13th and 14th, respectively.