CULLOWHEE — Haywood County swept the middle school division of the Western Carolina University High School/Middle School Cross Country Festival Saturday, Sept. 8, at WCU, a testament to the year-round commitment to their cross country programs by coaches Jennifer Williamson (Canton Middle School) and Brad Dodson (Waynesville Middle School).
The coaches, both committed runners themselves, lead running clubs in the off-season and during the summer to keep their athletes training and team building and to recruit new runners to their programs. Their efforts paid off Saturday with big wins by both schools.
Winning the girls division was Canton Middle School with 20 overall team points. Second place was Robbinsville with 64 total team points. Waynesville Middle School placed first in the boys division with 37 points and Canton Middle School boys placed second with 69 team points. There were 46 runners in both the girls and boys divisions.
The top seven finishers for the Canton Middle School girls team were (1) Maleigh Langstaff, 14:08.20 (running for CMS, from Macon); (2) Colbie Williamson, 14:13.74; (3) Maddie Webb, 14:19.48; (7) Venus Arellano, 14:51.20.; (9) Iris Howell (running for CMS, from WMS) 15:09.56; (11) Alex Dillingham, 15:29.70; and (13) Sydney Blasy, 15:42.05.
The top seven finishers for the WMS boys team were (3) Crayton Morrow, 12:47.37; (4) Mason McConnell, 12:48.93; (10) Will Nolte, 13:30.13; (12) Jacob Bennington, 13:51.93; (13) Brooks Wilson, 13:52.94; (14) Davis Reynolds, 13:59.84; and (15) Luke Stine, 14:00.54.
Canton Middle School’s Cody Lovelace placed first in the boys division with a time of 12:13.88. Rounding out the top seven finishers for CMS were (17) Alex Corona-Perez, 14:15.69; (19) Riley Marcus, 14:25.29; (22) Dawson Hyde, 14:46.50; (27) Tanner Reece, 15:08.83; (38) Robert Elovecky, 16:13.20; and (43) Ethan Delozier, 17:07.49.