Davis, others pace JHS girls to crown Cardinals win Mideastern Conference
STAFF REPORT
WILMINGTON — While Kaitlyn Davis finished first to win the individual Mideastern 3-A/4-A Conference title, she wasn’t the only runner who pushed Jacksonville’s girls to the team championship.
Davis, Ryanna Henderson and Brandy Swann finished 1-2-3 to propel the Cardinals to the league championship Thursday at Hugh McRae Park.
Davis, a sophomore, clocked a time of 19 minutes, 19 seconds while Henderson, a junior, was second at 20:15 and Swann, a senior, was third at 20:39. The performances of these young ladies allowed Jacksonville to record 31 points, 30 ahead of second place White Oak.
It marked the first conference title for Davis while it was the second time Henderson was the runner-up.
“It was an outstanding effort as usual on Kaitlyn’s part,” said Cardinals head coach Tim Hood. “It was just an awesome day for our girls, they ran like champions, and to have the top three and four in the top six, you can’t expect anything more.”
Davis, Henderson and Swann have pushed each other in practice and in races. It appears that has paid off.
“All three try to take each other on, but they pull for each other because they know when an individual does well it means great things for the team,” Hood said. “Everyone pulls for each other.”
The Vikings’ Rachel Johnston was fourth, followed by teammate Sarah Hart and the Cardinals’ Erin Putnam, who registered her fourth first-team all-conference honor, only the second JHS runner to do so. The top seven are acknowledged as first team all-conference with the second team consisting of places 6-13. Melissa Price of White Oak was ninth.
“My hats off to Coach Hood and the Jacksonville girls,” said WOHS head coach Chris Mueller. “They were awesome today.”
Meanwhile, White Oak’s Andre Smith was second in the boys race to help his squad to a runner-up finish. Smith ended at 17:02, 12 seconds behind winner Charles Wofford of Hoggard.
Jacksonville’s Daweet Dagnachew was sixth while teammates Cal Sligh and Jacob Amos were 10th and 11th, respectively. The Vikings’ Andrew Tiralongo, Tyler Marva and Damon Neanover were ninth, 12th and 13th, respectively.
“The kids are very happy to come home with two seconds,” Muller said. “Tyler and Damon had exceptional good races and they really helped us.”
Both Jacksonville and White Oak now look to the NCHSAA 3-A Eastern Regional finals, slated for Oct. 27 at Equine Country USA.
“(Our girls) want to defend their regional championship and if they run well, they should do very well,” Hood said.