Panther women’s cross country are Mountain Seven runners-up.
On Tuesday, Oct. 16, the conference gathered at the International Paper Sports Complex for a seven-team meet to dole out bragging rights for the year. With three All-Conference finishes including two from the girls, Franklin turned in a strong day ahead of the upcoming 3A West Regional.
“It was a pretty good day. All of our newer girls PR’ed [set personal records] and three of the boys PR’ed,” said head coach Melissa Ward of the conference meet. “We’re in a good place right now. We basically just started our peaking phase and should be dropping some more times going into regionals and state, so we’re in a good spot for that.”
Following Hurricane Helene, the frigid meet in Canton was the team’s first in more than three weeks, adding an extra challenge to their last act of the regular season. Now rounding into late-season form with some of their toughest workouts of the year, the Panthers nevertheless turned in some solid times.
Franklin’s deep and talented girls team took the course for the day’s first race, led once again by sophomore Morgan Cress and junior Amy Mendoza Lopez. Cress traversed the looping course with a time of 20:43.28, good for Franklin’s best finish of the day at sixth overall. Mendoza Lopez placed 11th in 21:57.44, joining Cress in the girls’ top 12 to earn All-Conference honors.
After Mendoza Lopez, Breanna Pendergrass, Abigail Pope and Mindi Holbrooks finished back-to-back, placing 17th, 18th and 19th with times in the 23-minute range. Sophomore Anna Timan also ran a sub-24-minute time (23:54.90), placing 21st just ahead of fellow sophomore Katelyn Lopez (23rd, 24:16.33). From there seven more Panthers ran times ranging from 25 to 38 minutes, led by Briseida Tlahuice-Flores (29th, 25:05.49) and Lilly Tux Xol (31st, 25:12.71).
As a team the numerical values of their top five finishes added up to 71, good for second place behind powerhouse West Henderson (20) and just ahead of third-place Tuscola (74).
After the girls, Franklin’s boys took the course for an even colder, windier race. With just five runners on the starting line, the team needed strong runs from each.
Matheson Post continued a strong senior season for Franklin, earning All-Conference honors in eighth at 18:07.71. Seniors Tristan Gibbs and David Rogers also ran solid times, placing 16th (19:25.78) and 21st (19:38.37), respectively. After Rogers, Evan Pyles and Eli Stewart nearly placed back-to-back, rounding out Franklin’s scorecard in 33rd (20:29.74) and 35th (20:49.98).
As a team Franklin’s five finishes added up to 99 points, good for fourth just behind Smoky Mountain (96), Pisgah (72) and a dominant West Henderson (18).
After the conference meet Franklin turned their attention to the 3A West Regional, which has also been affected by damage from Hurricane Helene.
“Apparently part of the course at Freedom [High School] was destroyed by the hurricane. I’m not sure if it’s something that can be repaired for the future or how bad it is, but they didn’t feel comfortable hosting,” said Ward. “They sought out some other locations, which unfortunately are further away for us. … So, we’ll be going to Salisbury. We ran a race at this course about three years ago, but I’m not sure that any of [Franklin’s distance runners] would even remember it.”
With the 3A West’s usual regional course at Freedom damaged by the storm, officials decided to combine this year’s 3A West and 3A Midwest meets, planning both for Oak Grove High School in Salisbury Oct. 26. On a flatter course than most in the mountains with plenty of gravel and dirt roads, Ward says she’ll try to keep both teams fresh for the regional meet.
“We’re gonna have kind of a free day today of some cross training, playing some frisbee, just something fun,” said Ward the day after the conference meet. “Friday [Oct. 18] and next week we’ll have some much faster workouts, and then really coming down in mileage for the rest of next week. They should start feeling really recovered and fresh.”
The top 25% of teams or top four teams (whichever is greater) from each regional will qualify for the state meet in Kernersville Nov. 2, as well as the top seven individuals not on a qualifying team. Both Panther teams qualified for state for the second straight year last fall, led by a 3A West Champion time from former senior Logan Russo.