For the first and hopefully not the last time, Panther cross country has scoped out the 3A state championship course.
After opening the season at Rabun Gap Aug. 31, on Sept. 8 Melissa Ward’s team traveled to the site of this year’s state championship meet, the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville. Against more than 1,000 elite runners at the Friday Night Lights Cross Country Festival, the Panthers gained valuable experience ahead of the state meet Nov. 4, including an impressive fifth-place finish for the team’s senior talisman.
“Logan placed fifth, and he learned a little bit in the race, too,” said Ward of Logan Russo, who beat out nearly 350 other runners in the boys’ varsity invitational with a stellar time of 16:34.70. “He’s been playing with different strategies and anticipating hills, and he’s done a lot of research on his own on YouTube, blogs and all that good stuff. … He actually did a little bit too much anticipation for the hills and could have pushed further. He was like, ‘I wasn’t really that gassed, so I shouldn’t have anticipated so much.’ I think he probably could have come up just a few more people, but he was out there with some strong runners, so some great competition for him.”
After placing 17th on the same course at last year’s state meet the prospect of Russo improving on his fifth-place time is a scary one for his 3A rivals, as the senior improves his in-race pacing technique.
With Barrett Stork attling tendonitis in his foot however, the other half of Franklin’s dynamic senior duo was still returning to form.
“Barrett, coming off his tendonitis issue, I sent him out there to pace some of the boys instead of running his normal speed, because we were nervous about that,” said Ward of Stork, last year’s 24th-place finisher at state. “It gave him a job and a workout, and he paced Cooper [Tyler] and Dane [Hooper]. Both boys came on strong through about mile two, and then they were feeling a little gassed.”
On a difficult course in Kernersville, several other Panthers ran well, led by junior Matheson Post placing 48th in 17:46.00. After Stork finished seconds later in 58th (17:55.50), juniors Tyler and Hooper placed 162nd (19:08.70) and 173rd (19:17.20), respectively. With a 21:15.70, sophomore Jonas Phillips placed 297th, while twins David and Adam Rogers placed 317th and 342nd, respectively, with a 21:56.80 and a 24:20.40.
While Franklin’s girls didn’t have a top-five finisher, they did have several runners turn in strong times in the girls’ invitational.
“The girls did well. Amy [Mendoza Lopez] actually started out at the back of our group … and she took off and was up at the front of all of our girls within the first half-mile,” said Ward of Mendoza Lopez’s 43rd-place finish out of 289 (21:35.30). “Mindi [Holbrooks] was not far behind her; I think they both came in at 21-something [minutes], but a huge difference from what we did at Rabun Gap. Everybody was around three minutes better, which I kind of expected because that meet was tougher than we realized it was going to be.”
After Holbrooks’ 52nd-place finish in 21:43.50, sophomore Abigail Pope and freshman Morgan Cress nearly finished back-to-back, with Pope placing 81st in 22:28.80 and Cress placing 85th in 22:35.50. Senior Rylee Cassada and freshman Breanna Pendergrass nearly did the same, finishing 185th and 190th in 24:09.80 and 24:19.00, respectively. After Pendergrass, sophomore Briseida Tlahuice-Flores placed 235th, while Anna Timan, Zoe Kettler and Claire Hovis rounded out Franklin’s varsity girls.
In addition to the varsity invitational, Franklin also placed five girls in the JV girls race, including Kourtnei Reed, Nadia Owle, Kai Pelletier, Madie Holden and Lilli Hovis.
“It’s good experience, because there’s no telling at this point who’s gonna be the top seven that goes to state until we’re closer to that time,” said Ward. “At any point, somebody could improve enough to get in that top seven, even on the JV end of the girls. That, and the size of the meet going out in a big pack like that with a long, wide start line with everybody, it’s intense and intimidating, but exciting. I think it really helps you get the mindset for what it could be, and maybe even make the other meets like going to Swain and Murphy not so scary because they’re a lot smaller.”