Search FortMillTimes.com for:
Sports - Local Sports
rss

Published: Tuesday, Nov. 06, 2012 / Updated: Tuesday, Nov. 06, 2012 10:18 AM

Jackets runners best of local squads at S.C. meet

By Mac Banks - mbanks@comporium.net

COLUMBIA -- 

The Fort Mill boys cross country team got the highest finish of any local squad by coming in fifth at the 2012 State Championships Saturday.

Lexington High ran away with a history-making fourth straight 4A state title.

Lexington scored three top five finishes in the race as junior Tony Morales won for the Wildcats with a time of 15:25 and the team accrued 63 points. Mauldin came in second.

  • factbox1-B822671480Z
    " More information 2012 4A State Cross-Country Championship Boys team top 10 and local results: 1. Lexington 63, 2. Mauldin 84, 3. Wade Hampton, 106, 4. Wando 139, 5. Fort Mill 145, 6. Riverside 192, 7. Clover 207, 8. Stratford 255, 9. Dorman 262, 10. Northwestern 282, 12. South Pointe 323, 17. Rock Hill 392. Local finishers: Fort Mill: 11. Lucas Stalnaker 16:18, 23. Jeremy Ricks 16:29, 30. Christian Ruppe 16:42, 40. Cameron Ruppe 16:56, 70. Matthew Case 17:18, 81. Clay Pratt 17:25, 112. Mitchell Scholten 17:45. Girls team top 10 and local results: 1. Lexington 100, 2. Wade Hampton 109, 3. Wando 111, 4. Riverside 123, 5. Dorman 137, 6. JL Mann 151, 7. Rock Hill 247, 8. Dutch Fork 256, 9. Spartanburg 285, 10. Summerville 289, 11. South Pointe 301, 14. Lancaster 362, 15. Fort Mill 365. Local finishers: Fort Mill: 41. Emily Lyons 19:59, 59. Melissa Smith 20:25, 74. Ania Rzepka 20:49, 85. Meagan Allen 20:59, 147. Allysa Resech 22:45, 150. Annie Janick 23:28, 151. Jessica Harris 24:05. 2012 2A State Cross-Country Championship Boy’s team top 10 and local results: 1. Pendleton 76, 2. Academic Magnet 92, 3. Waccamaw 93, 4. Bishop England 117, 5. Landrum 163, 6. Liberty 202, 7. Pelion 226, 8. Cheraw 229, 9. Ninety Six 245, 10. Aynor 284, 14. Indian Land 421. Local finishers: Indian Land: 35. James Gregory 18:04, 85. Matthew Hajak 19:35, 90. Landon Cook 19:41, 105. William Champman 26:04, 129. Finn Hagerty 20:55, 141. James Hagerty 21:18. 154. Alex Watt 22:37. Girl’s team top 10 and local results: 1. Landrum 68, 2. Waccamaw 68, 3. Bishop England 71, 4. Pelion 79, 5. Pendleton 110, 6. Academic Magnet 125, 7. Aynor 209, 8. Indian Land 242, 9. Woodland 291, 10. Cheraw 303. Local finishers: Indian Land: 35. Chloe Cook 22:12, 49. Destiny Todd 22:47, 51. Sarah Jordan 22:57, 55. Tianah Miller 23:17, 65. Dallas Erwin 23:41, 66. Imani Jernigan 23:44, 70. Katrina Bynum 24:06.

Coming off a win in the Upper State meet last week, Fort Mill was hoping to place higher.

“A little reality caught up with us sooner than we wanted too,” said Fort Mill head coach Marc Pyrc.

“It was either win big or lose big. Some of our guys ran out a little too quickly and a lot of them looked tight in that last mile. This is cross-country; we could race the same guys tomorrow and get different results.”

Fort Mill was led by senior Lucas Stalnaker, who finished 11th, in a time of 16:18.

The Jackets had 145 points –the highest among areas schools – and was 47 points better than sixth-place Riverside.

Stalnaker was followed by sophomore Jeremy Ricks, who finished 23rd at 16:29. Senior Christian Ruppe finished 30th at 16:42 and was followed by his brother Cameron 14 seconds later, but 10 places down from him at 40th, in 16:56. Junior Matthew Case rounded out the top five for Fort Mill finishing 70th in 17:18.

In the girls’ 4A race, Lexington also ran away with the event winning with 100 points, edging Wade Hampton by nine points.

The Lady Jackets finished 15th, which was last of any local team. Fort Mill was led by senior Emily Lyons, who finished 41st, with a time of 19:59.

Sophomore Melissa Smith finished behind Lyons just 26 seconds later, but was 18 spots behind her in 59th in 20:25. Eight grader Ania Rzepka finished 74 in 20:49 and 10 seconds later Meagan Allen finished 85 in 20:59. Senior Allysa Resech rounded out the top five for the Lady Jackets coming in 147th at 22:45.

In the 2A boys’ and girls’ races, Indian Land was the only other local participants.

The Indian Land boys’ finished 14th and the girls’ team finished eighth.

The Lady Warriors were led by sophomore Chloe Cook, who finished 35th with a time of 22:12. The Indian Land boys were led by senior James Gregory, who also finished 35th with a time of 18:04.