Panther cross country is rounding into midseason form.
After opening the year with an easy course at A.C. Reynolds Aug. 28, on Sept. 6 Franklin’s distance runners navigated a much tougher race. At this year’s State Championship course at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville, Franklin’s men’s and women’s teams raced top competition from across the state.
“It’s not the easiest course, and of course [for] some of them it was their first time doing a 5K,” said head coach Melissa Ward of the program’s first five-kilometer race this season. “On the boys side Tristan [Gibbs], Evan [Pyles] and Ken [Modlin] ran their first official 5Ks, and on the girls side we had Katelyn [Lopez] and Lilly [Tux Xol running] their first as well. It was not the greatest course for a first time, but it’s a good taste of where we’re gonna be later in the season and how they can improve, because there’s nothing but improvement from here.”
Between freshmen moving up from the standard two-mile middle school courses and newcomers in their first official runs with the team, the tough race in Kernersville served as a dive into the deep end for some. For top runners like sophomore Morgan Cress and junior Amy Mendoza Lopez, the course represented a crucial early-season litmus test, ending in finishes of 36th (20:37.50) and 50th (21:13.90) respectively in the Girls Invitational race.
After Mendoza Lopez, Breanna Pendergrass and Abigail Pope finished less than 20 seconds apart, placing 120th in 22:56.40 and 14th in 23:13.40. Anna Timan, Lopez and Tux Xol placed between 206th and 262nd with times ranging from 24:03.70 to 27:06.80.
On the boys side senior Matheson Post led Franklin with an 18:40.30, placing 145th in a massive 316-person race. Having joined the shorthanded Panthers as a senior to help make a full team, Tristan Gibbs was the second boy across the line in 220th (19:34.80). Modlin, David Rogers and Pyles rounded out Franklin’s scorecard with times ranging from 20:10.70 to 21:42.20.
“Everybody is improving as they should from our two-mile course at A.C. Reynolds,” said Ward. “Comparing [to] some of the times that they ran last year at [the Kernersville course], almost everybody has improved from that by at least a few minutes, which is always a nice bonus.”
Upon returning home from Kernersville, the team had more than two weeks to prepare for a meet to be hosted by Swain County Sept. 21.