Stamey twins take top 2 spots
Andy Scheidler
sports@thefranklinpress.com
Ethan Stamey and his twin brother Nathan came into the Mountain Six Conference championship meet ranked 1-2.
So they weren’t particularly surprised when they took the top two spots.
“It was not really a shocker,” Ethan Stamey said. “Just glad, I guess.”
Ethan finished in 16 minutes, 19.2 seconds. Nathan crossed the line four seconds later.
It had been only two years since the last time Franklin had runners take the top two spots at the conference meet. Nathan Richards and Grayson Jones accomplished the feat in 2017.
That meet was held at Western Carolina University, but it shifted to the Jackson County Recreation Park for this year’s race, held Oct. 23.
The Stamey’s times were close to their personal records, set a couple weeks prior in Robbinsville.
Ethan broke the course record at the Currahee Classic with a time of 16:13. Nathan also set a PR at 16:21.
To show how much the juniors have improved, consider that they earned all-conference honors last year by finishing fourth (Nathan) and fifth (Ethan) in 17:35 and 17:37.
Nathan said they’ve been working out more and have placed an increased focus on gaining more upper body strength. Doing that should help them when they get tired.
“In BFS (class) we do more than just sitting there and doing core all day,” Nathan said.
Nathan weighs only 110 pounds, while Ethan barely tops the century mark even though he “eats a lot.”
They take running seriously and adhere to a stringent workout routine all year. Because of that, one might expect they simply love to run.
But that’s not exactly the case.
“No, it’s terrible. It hurts,” Nathan said about training. “Racing is literally the only good part.”
“If you ask almost every runner,” Ethan said, “I guarantee you they’ll say they hate the training – that the race is rewarding.”
They enjoy the competition aspect way more than training and running in general, but Nathan realizes he might not always despise it.
“I say I hate it,” he said, “but probably in 30 years I’m gonna miss it when I get old and can’t do it anymore.”
As their PRs approach the low 16s, they’ve gotten encouragement to break that barrier and achieve a time in the 15s this season. Coaches Rita Esterwood, Jeff Howard and Sarah Lowell have all told them they believe they can achieve that at regional or state.
But do the Stamey’s think they can?
“I don’t know,” Ethan said. “It’s pretty fast. I don’t want to let them down, that’s the problem.”
They’re ranked sixth and seventh at Saturday’s 2-A West Regional. FHS is ranked fourth as a team.
The West Regional features the fastest team (North Lincoln) and runner (Jason Thompson, last year’s 2-A NCHSAA runner-up) in the state.
Esterwood devised a training plan aimed to allow the Stamey’s to peak at regional and/or state.
“They have a really great opportunity at regionals for PRing,” she said.
Boys win title by single point
Andy Scheidler
sports@thefranklinpress.com
A time-honored tradition at cross-country meets is to announce team standings in reverse order. Unlike most sports, where a scoreboard displays who’s winning and losing, running events don’t have digital leaderboards.
Therefore, teams and runners are often left wondering how the standings will settle after all of the runners have finished.
At last week’s Mountain Six Conference meet, Brevard and Franklin runners took many of the top spots. They knew it would be very close.
After the announcer read off the sixth-, fifth-, fourth- and third-place finishers, everyone waited nervously for the next team. When it was announced Brevard came in second, members of Franklin’s team erupted with a roar.
“That was pretty exciting,” said coach Rita Esterwood, who said she felt bad because they didn’t wait to celebrate when their name was announced. “We couldn’t even hear scores because we were cheering so loud.”
It wasn’t until assistant track coach Jeff Howard later asked Esterwood if she heard the Panthers won by one point that she found out how close it was.
Brevard’s top five runners’ places equaled 50. Franklin’s top five runners’ places added up to 49.
Had they been tied, it would’ve gone to how each team’s sixth place runner finished. However, Franklin still would’ve won by one, with Hunter Cabe finishing one spot ahead of a Brevard runner.
It’s Franklin’s first conference championship since 2014.
Ethan Stamey and twin brother Nathan finished first and second, giving the Panthers a huge boost.
They expected to take the top spots, but weren’t sure about the team result.
“I thought Brevard won,” Nathan Stamey said. “We somehow pulled it off.”
Franklin’s next three runners finished between 13th and 17th.
Andrew Garrison came in 13th, Aiden Carpenter placed 16th and Ethan Farrell was 17th.
Cabe finished 24th and Nik Payne, the team’s only senior, placed 36th.
It was the first meet this season Franklin and Brevard competed against each other.
The Panthers are hoping to qualify for state once again. It’s a feat they achieved in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018.
They’re ranked fourth ahead of Saturday’s 2-A West Regional. The top four teams or 25 percent – whichever is greater – will qualify for state.
The top seven fastest runners not on an advancing team will also qualify for state.
Garcia crushes girls’ 5K record
Andy Scheidler
sports@thefranklinpress.com
Dylan Garcia felt the pressure. She was so nervous when getting on the bus to go compete at the Mountain Six Conference cross-country meet that her stomach was in knots.
“It burned so much because I was so nervous,” she said.
Garcia was the favorite to win the 5K race by more than a minute, yet she was worried that she might have an off day and another runner would beat her.
Her family came to Jackson County Recreation Park to support her, as did track and field distance coach Jim Byrd, among others. She relaxed and buzzed around the course, not only shattering her own personal-record time, but also the Franklin High School record.
Garcia won the MSC Championship with a time of 19 minutes, 9.3 seconds. Her blistering
time broke Jennifer Wiggins’ record of 19:31, which had stood for 25 years.
Garcia’s previous PR of 19:36 came Oct. 9 at the Currahee Classic in Robbinsville. She’s shown tremendous improvement, beginning this season by running 5K times of around 22:00.
She never expected to break the school record during her junior year, figuring it would be something she could hope to achieve as a senior.
“It still hasn’t sunk in that I have the school record,” Garcia said. “That mental mindset – I still feel like I’m chasing something. It’s sort of weird.”
Now, every time she sets a new PR also means it will be a new school record – which is hard for Garcia to fathom.
“It’s sort of crazy to think about that,” she said.
Coach Rita Esterwood explained that cross-country is so much more of a mental sport than most people think.
Because Garcia was favored to win, which is based on previous times from this season, Esterwood said she could just go run. Esterwood told her that she trains beautifully, and to go run as if it were just a hard training run.
“So I think all of the pressure was off,” Esterwood said, “so she was able to do what she could do.”
Franklin’s girls finished third out of five teams.
Brevard won it, followed by Hendersonville. Smoky Mountain and Pisgah brought up the rear.
Maria Sgro was the second Franklin runner to cross the finish line, finishing 16th. She was followed by four freshmen: Hailey Bryant (18th), Mykayla McClure (20th), Ava May (41st) and Oliva Owl (44th).
Garcia was an all-conference runner last year, when she placed sixth. The race had been held the previous two years on the Western Carolina University campus, but this year moved to the county’s rec park.
The course was pretty fun, Garcia said. The predominant surfaces were gravel and pavement, which unusually featured no grass.
Garcia won by 59 seconds over Brevard freshman Lucy Murray.
She attributes a couple factors to how she’s been able to shave three minutes off her times this season.
It started with training with Ethan and Nathan Stamey over the summer. Garcia continued running with them during the season, and she’s basically considered a part of the boys team.
She’s also on a gluten-free diet now. It’s helped reduce the frequency of migraines, something that possibly was inherited – both of Garcia’s parents get them – or is related to a pair of freak concussions she got from getting hit in the temple.
Garcia expected cutting out carbs from her diet would make her weaker. But she lost 10 pounds the first week and actually felt much stronger.
While a gluten-free diet isn’t as convenient – she brings her own lunch to school and her own snacks, such as Kind® bars, when the team travels – she’s pleased with the results.
“It makes me feel a lot healthier than I did last year,” she said.
The 2-A West Regional is slated for Saturday at Southside Park in Newton. Garcia hopes to break 19:00 at that race, or the following week at state. Another goal is to get all-state (awarded to the top 10 finishers).
Garcia’s conference time has her ranked third heading into regionals, while the team is ranked eighth.
It’s a very difficult region. In fact, Garcia said the top 10 girls ranked in the state are all in the West Regional.
The top four teams or 25 percent of the teams – whichever is greater – will qualify for the 2-A NCHSAA Championship. The top seven individual runners not on an advancing team will also qualify for state.
Esterwood said the girls have a chance to qualify as a team, but she also doesn’t want to put any pressure on the four freshmen.
“If it works out then it’s fine,” she said. “If not, they have three more years to go to state.”
As for Garcia, Esterwood thinks the combination of the regional course – which is really flat and on dirt – and having competition could lead to a really good time.
“It’s a course where personally you can achieve your highest ability,” Esterwood said.