Both of the Swain County High School cross country teams qualified for the state cross country meet with top-three finishes in Saturday’s regional meet. The teams have grown accustomed to the course at Kituwah Mound, but the wintery conditions added a new challenge to the event.
“The weather really played a big factor in the times that showed up,” said coach Jennifer Chatham. “It was about 32 degrees and snowing. It was like a snow globe, it was coming from every direction, up your nose— it was amazing. The cold weather definitely affected their times.”
Gracie Monteith led the way for the Swain Lady Devils, finishing fifth overall to secure All-Region recognition with a time of 20:49.59.
Lily Bjerkness was 15th overall with a personal best time of 22:17.39.
Emily Ulaner was the third Swain runner across, finishing 26th with a time of 23:26.08, and Laiken Harvey was 29th with a personal best of 23:47.89. Swain finished second to Thomas Jefferson Classical and two points ahead of Lincoln Charter.
“We also ran against more runners than we have all season, so for me as a coach it was really hard to tell if they were in the right position or if they weren’t,” said Chatham. “We were going against teams we haven’t run against before, so I was a nervous wreck because they were not where I felt they should have been throughout the race.”
Maroon Devils
On the Maroon Devils’ side, Austin SanSouci also earned All-Region honors by finishing fifth on the men’s side with a time of 17:42.65. Freshman Connor Brown returned to finish eighth at 17:56.68. Kane Jones was the third Devil across and 16th overall at 18:25.40, with classmate Connor Lambert close behind in 19th at 18:47.01.
The Maroon Devils finished third, 11 points behind second-place Murphy and 25 points behind winner Lincoln Charter.
The state meet is scheduled for Saturday at the Ivey Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville.