C.B. Aycock boys dominate home cross country meet

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on September 17, 2015 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

PIKEVILLE -- Charles B. Aycock's boys -- as expected -- turned in a dominating performance on their home cross country course Wednesday afternoon.

And none seemed too winded once they crossed the finish line.

Joseph Mooneyham secured first place in 18 minutes, 31 seconds. Still full of energy, Mooneyham ran back toward the final curve to encourage teammates John Parrish and multi-sport athlete Deshawn Owens.

Parrish claimed second in 19:31.

Owens kicked into another gear over the final 150 meters and secured third in 19:50 -- three seconds head of Eastern Wayne freshman Rudy Spears.

"We did awesome, the best team (meet) we've ever had," Mooneyham said. "I'm really happy with what our team did. Our course is really simple ... not too complicated because we train here."

Aycock ended the day with six runners, who all set personal-best times, among the top eight finishers. The Golden Falcons compiled 21 points. South Central seized second with 53 points, followed by Eastern Wayne (78) and D.H. Conley (89).

Parrish said the course provided an advantage for Aycock's runners since they train on it every day. But the result was especially sweet for Parrish, who missed the entire 2014 season due to a foot injury that eventually required surgery.

"I've never had a better race on our home course," Parrish said. "It's nice to finally run a good time here. I wasn't running out of breath (as usual) ... sprinted the last little bit. I wanted to slow myself down, but didn't.

"It's a course you know where you can pass people (and) you know where to pick up the pace. Definitely running her at home is a huge advantage."

Eastern Wayne freshman Rudy Spears secured fourth place in 19:53. Teammate's Noah Bernard (19:26) and Zach Childers (21:40) crossed the finish line 12th and 14th, respectively. Jaylon Graham (23:59) and Keshonte Henry (25:26) completed the Warriors' team score.

On the girls' side, Eastern Wayne senior Fiona Pedrick is 3-for-3 in ECC competition. The Alaska native finished the course in 20:31 -- nearly two minutes faster than South Central's duo of Chloe and Claudia Cox.

"It was a great course with lots of terrain that you have to look for when you're running, which I think is fun," Pedrick said. "This course is why the sport is called cross country. That's the type of thing that makes this sport tough and makes the athletes some of the toughest athletes out there because it's just you and the course.

"The course fought back today."

The Golden Falcons' trio of Tara Price (25:14), Mackenzie Stewart (26:00), Sara Gregory (26:01) and Morgan Casey (26:25) placed among the top 15 on the day.

Georgia Parnell completed the team scoring with a 20th-place time of 28:28.

South Central won the meet with 20 points, followed by Aycock (62) and Conley (75).