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Freshman Arizona Blankenship won her first varsity meet and beat the 30 year record, set by Wendy Trehern (Meyers) in 1990.
Hannah Styles
hstyles@thesmokymountaintimes.com
At this past Saturday’s home cross country meet, Swain County looked great and even had a freshman beat a 30-year record!
Freshman Arizona Blankenship is the new record holder, with 19:32, passing the previous record held by Wendy Trehern (Meyers) since 1990 of 19:40.
Arizona Blankenship was expected to be a stand out runner this year on the team, according to coaches Keith Payne and Jennifer Chatnam but no one quite expected her to break a 30 year record at this season’s first meet!
“The girls did exceptionally well, they showed out. Arizona won and beat the 30-year record at her first varsity cross country run. Emily Ulaner came in 2nd place followed by Gracie Monteith in 5th, Lily Bjerkness in 6th, and Sienna Hackshaw in 9th. All of our top 5 runners came in the top 10,” Coach Payne said. “Overall, I was very pleased with the team. We had two freshman girls in the top 10 and won both varsity and individual, which is awesome!”
The girls team blew away their opponents with 1st overall with 19 total points followed by Smoky Mountain in 2nd place with 54 points.
Cross Country boys’ top 5 finished with sophomores Conner Brown in second, Cane Jones in fifth, Conner Lambert in 11th, Corey Wolf in 21st with a 3 minute personal record, and senior Jaxon McClung in 26th place. The boys team came in third overall, behind Murphy 5 points and winning team Smoky Mountain 10 points.
“The boys did good, there is definitely room to grow but we saw a lot of progress. Our top five runners did well and sophomore Corey Wolf had a 3 minute PR and showed a lot of improvement over the summer,” Coach Payne said.
The team’s next meet will be this Friday in Hendersonville.