CROSS COUNTRY: Sullivan, Thurston each prevail in respective race

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on September 1, 2016 1:49 PM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

Reigning Carolina 1-A Conference cross country champions Austin Sullivan and Haley Thurston each set the pace during their respective race Tuesday afternoon.

They didn't anticipate what awaited them.

Instead of running one big loop that normally leads the runners through a lengthy trek in the woods at historic Waynesborough Park, they tackled a 3.1-mile course that took three laps to complete.

"It was really slow, holes everywhere," said Sullivan, a Princeton senior who emerged as the boys' top runner in 19 minutes, 21 seconds.

"The course was kind of off the beaten path. We just tried to get the job done, tried to finish as fast as we could."

Sullivan and his teammates finished second in the team portion with 49 points. Hobbton placed four runners among the top 10 and logged a meet-best 26 points.

Rosewood ended up third with 64 points. Neuse Charter and Spring Creek posted 83 and 102 points, respectively.

Once the race started, Sullivan worked his way toward the front of the pack. He used his long strides to build a comfortable advantage and crossed the line nearly three minutes head of his closest competitor -- runner-up Xavier McLamb of Hobbton.

"I knew this front straightaway (at the start) we had to close down through the cones, so I knew I had to get out front then," Sullivan said. "When I got in the woods (near the village), I just used the hills to my advantage and the ones that were going uphill, I just tried to go as far over them as I could.

"After I realized I had a pretty substantial lead, I just kind of backed off a little bit because of risk of injury was going to get high if I kept trying to go as hard as I could."

Hobbton's Ty Meyer claimed third in 22:45, followed by Neuse Charter's Luke Sullivan (22:53), Rosewood's Cameron Smith (23:14) and Spring Creek's Levi Miller (23:25). Rosewood's Owen Blevins (23:53) and Princeton's Luke Brush (24:39) claimed eighth and ninth, respectively.

Thurston, the three-time defending CC champ, ran a slower time compared to her previous conference outing. The North Duplin senior turned in a mark of 25:10, and like Sullivan, said the course ran slow in hot and humid conditions.

"There's a lot of turns and it was really hard to tell which direction you were going because e of how it was marked off," Thurston said. "When you're coming around that last loop, it was a big hill that made it feel long. I had the lead and ran a comfortable pace that I thought I could run."

Rosewood junior Elana Amy and North Duplin's Kendy Rangel staged a spirited finish for second place. Amy edged Rangel by .02 seconds.

"She was with me the whole time and at the end, it was a battle," Amy said. "She's really nice. We talked a little bit on our run, encouraging other runners as we passed."

Hobbton took positions four through six and logged the lowest team score with 20. Rosewood had a 39. No other school had enough runners to score.

Princeton's Ally Britt placed seventh in 30:51. North Duplin's Esmerelda Lopez took ninth in 32:29.