Warriors' Pedrick emerges victorious in first-ever ECC cross country meet

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on September 3, 2015 1:48 PM

• Print
• Email

rcoggins@newsargus.com

Fiona Pedrick searched for a cool spot in the shade.

She checked her watch.

She wiped the sweat from her face moments after posting a first-place time of 19 minutes, 46 seconds during the first Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference meet contested at historic Waynesborough Park on a balmy, humid Wednesday afternoon,

"It's hot, capital letters, exclamation point," said the the Eastern Wayne senior, who transferred from Anchorage, Alaska, to Goldsboro with her family due to military orders.

"(Handle the heat) you just have to drink water all day, warm up, stay loose and don't try to tire yourself out because it's a totally different animal."

The twisting and sloping 5k course forced runners to pace themselves as they entered cool spaces, but immediately re-entered the hotter zones.

Pedrick started in conservative mode so she could measure up the competition, plus it was her first meet in North Carolina and she wasn't used to either the heat or humidity compared to Alaska.

She took the lead on the first lap.

"I felt like that would be what's best for me and I ran my race," Pedrick said. "I could hear them (other runners) for most of the race. I could hear breathing, hear footsteps ... so I just had to not look back and just keep myself stable.

"It's all about pacing."

Pacing proved pivotal for Eastern Wayne's Rudy Spears, and Southern Wayne teammates Cole Atwood and Bless Thomas. The trio posted top-10 finishes in a meet dominated by New Bern, which scored 20 points after having five runners place among the top seven.

"I don't remember them being that fast last year, but it certainly did push me to go faster," said Atwood, who ended up fourth overall in 18:51.

"This is my favorite course to run because of all of the slopes. It's challenging ... fun. I used to start out too fast, then slow down as I went on. I definitely have to pace myself."

Spears, a freshman, ended up eighth in 19:11.

"(Rudy) makes it look easy. He showed up to practice and started running with the front pack, what I call the "A" team that runs a little more, a little faster and he's hung with them.

"He just came out of the blue, a new kid to the area."

Spears and his family transferred to Goldsboro from Okinawa, Japan.

Thomas, a junior, took ninth in 19:24.