Panther cross country have punched their tickets to state.
After nearly sweeping the Mountain Seven Conference Championships in Hendersonville Oct. 17, on Oct. 28 Franklin traveled to Morganton for the 3A West Regional Meet. Led by a historic day from senior talisman Logan Russo, both teams qualified for the State Championship Meet in Kernersville Nov. 4.
“Logan Russo won the boys overall, and out of all four regions that cross country has, he ran the fastest time,” said head coach Melissa Ward of Russo’s lightning-fast run of 15:51.80. “That’s pretty exciting. He was certainly excited about what he did, and a college coach immediately approched him about that. ... He was definitely on top of the world, especially after how he felt about conference. He wanted that to play out differently, so I felt like this was his redeeming moment to come out of Regionals like that.”
After placing fourth at the conference meet with a 15:56.8, Russo flew across the regional course at Freedom High School, recording the fastest time of any 3A Runner across the state. Bolstered by the senior’s first-place finish, Franklin’s six other boys also impressed at the meet.
“Barrett [Stork] was under the weather the last few days before Regionals and underperformed per what his usual [time] is, but he did better than what he looked like he could do when he started,” said Ward. “He was looking pretty down, but he ran in the 17s and still secured our position to go on to state, so that was the improtant part. ... [We had] a couple PRs [personal records] across the board with Matheson [Post] pretty much maintaining, but Cooper [Tyler] came in at like a 17:28, which is a pretty significant PR for him. Overall, the guys did pretty well.”
After Russo, Franklin’s next three boys earned solid finishes in the 175-man race, led by Post placing 21st in 17:17.50. In 26th, Tyler crossed the line in 17:28.20, followed closely by Stork in 28th with a 17:33.40.
After Stork, junior Dane Hooper also posted a solid time, placing 43rd in 18:17.80. David Rogers and Jonas Phillips rounded out Franklin’s top seven, placing 98th and 134th with a 20:12.60 and a 21:03.80, respectively.
As a team, the Panther men earned 107 points, just beating out conference rival West Henderson’s 122 for third out of 25 teams. On the women’s side, Franklin’s freshman rising star led a strong team effort across the board.
“Morgan [Cress] of course is on a roll,” said Ward of the team’s first-year standout. “She was seventh overall and ran a 19:19, so she dropped her time again. She’s 22 seconds away from Dylan [Garcia]’s record, which was set during Dylan’s conference meet her senior year. ... Amy [Mendoza Lopez] snuck into the top 15, so she also made All-Region with a 20:14. She definitely wanted to do better so she was mad at herself, but again, we secured a position to get up to state. We were originally ranked fifth overall as a team, and we came home with fourth place.”
After Cress and Mendoza Lopez, several more Panthers placed in the top half of the race, led by sophomore Mindi Holbrooks’ 28th-place finish out of 151 with a 21:03.20. Hot on Holbrooks’ heels was fellow sophomore Abigail Pope, who placed 33rd in 21:33.30. Freshman Breanna Pendergrass placed 43rd in 21:47.10, with senior Rylee Cassada (75ht, 23:27.50) and sophomore Briseida Tlahuice-Flores (101st, 25:19.90) rounding out Franklin’s top seven.
As a team, the Panther women earned 126 points, just beating out conference rival Tuscola (129) for fourth. In overall scoring, both Panther squads placed among the top 25% of teams at the Regional, punching their tickets to the State Championship Meet in Kernersville this Saturday. This is the second straight year both Panther teams have advanced to state.