Panther cross country is halfway through the regular season.
After previewing the State Championship course in Kernersville two weeks before, on Sept. 21 Franklin returned to action much closer to home. At the Kituwah Mound near Bryson City, the Panthers took part in a unique tribute to a late WNC cross country legend.
“It was a memorial for Keith Payne, [Swain’s] head coach that just passed away about five or six weeks ago, so there were quite a few teams that came out to show support,” said head coach Melissa Ward of the meet at the Cherokee Mother Town. “They made the course a little bit flatter, which was hard to believe because it was already pretty flat.”
After Payne, a 13-time 1A State Champion coach of Swain’s dynastic track and cross country programs, suffered a fatal heart attack Aug. 17, organizers renamed the now-eponymous meet in his honor. With eight WNC high schools in attendance, Franklin continued to round into midseason form.
“The boys ran first; everybody is progressing in their times,” said Ward. “We started the program a little bit later this year so that we could really manage our peaking, so we would be in the championship season at least for the 5K [5-kilometer] training to peak and go into indoor track with a little bit more stamina. We didn’t hit the same times we would have last year, because we peaked a little early last year. But, everybody’s progressing like they’re supposed to, and we had Eli Stewart running his first 5K.”
Because runners continuously improve their endurance throughout the season, coaches must carefully time teams’ training to peak near the end of the season, to achieve maximum fitness without tiring legs prematurely. With some veterans in their third and fourth seasons and some new team members running their first 5Ks, both teams turned in a wide range of times at Kituwah.
Senior Matheson Post was first across the line for Franklin’s men, placing seventh out of 82 with a time of 18:02.18. Fellow senior Tristan Gibbs placed 18th in 19:12.54.
After Gibbs, Ken Modlin and David Rogers finished less than 10 seconds from each other, placing 26th in 19:56.05 and 30th in 20:04.83. Evan Pyles (21:04.06) and Stewart (21:31.25) rounded out Franklin’s scorecard in 43rd and 47th.
Together, the numerical values of Franklin’s top five finishes equaled 102, placing them fourth out of eight men’s teams in attendance and just six points behind conference rivals Smoky Mountain (96).
On the girls side Morgan Cress and Amy Mendoza Lopez stood out once again, placing 5th in 20:47.48 and 7th in 21:19.54. Breanna Pendergrass (22:06.39) and Abigail Pope (22:38.12) placed 10th and 14th out of 77, with Anna Timan (23.44.50) rounding out Franklin’s top five in 19th.
After Timan, Katelyn Lopez (24:24.97) and Briseida Tlahuice-Flores (25:01.55) finished 26th and 31st for the Panthers, with Lilly Tux Xol (26:47.75), Dorothy Perez (27:02.60) and AnnMarie Hinton (27:45.61) placing between 40th and 45th. As a team Franklin placed second out of seven teams with 48 points, behind only Swain county’s 27 and one spot ahead of Smoky Mountain’s 89.
“We had a few girls that hadn’t raced before, so that was good,” said Ward of Franklin’s 13 women in attendance. “The girls all did really well, and same thing on that side – everybody’s progressing for the season, so I’m happy with the progress we’ve made.”
Following the Keith Payne Memorial, Franklin had more than a week until their next race, a Mountain Seven Conference Championship preview meet at Pisgah Oct. 2.