The boys cross country season came to a bittersweet ending this past weekend at the regional competition. It was bitter because, they did not qualify for the state tournament on November 1st. However it was sweet because, they have been working hard all season and 3 PR’s were set. The girls are advancing to the state tournament and are looking to pull off an upset. Overall the season for the boys was more or less what was expected, the program is rebuilding, but next year the should be even better because, they are only losing 2, all be it fast, seniors to graduation (Robert Russell and Jacob Larson). The girls team will be even better next year, because the top 4 runners are sophomores and freshman, so the next 2-3 years the girls team will dominate. Things only get better from here.
Photo Credit: ohsrunning.com[/caption]The boys cross country team has improved greatly throughout the season. Their record stands at a solid 4-6. That may not look good on paper, but everyone's times have improved tremendously. Jamison Askew’s first 5k of the season was around 21 minutes, but this past weekend at the return to Hagan Stone Park, he ran an 18:56 5k, far exceeding his goal of 20:05. Askew is not the only runner improving. Over 10 Orange runners set a PR (personal record) at the race.
Their most recent race was at Chapel Hill High on September 30, 2014. They raced against Chapel Hill, Oxford Webb, and Northern Vance. The results of the race were not in at press time. The top runners for the teams were not racing as fast as they normally would, because they were saving their legs for the “Wendy's Invitational” this weekend.
When asked about this upcoming weekend, Coach Russell Westbrook said, “I am very excited. We have a lot of fast juniors and seniors, and I am looking forward to see what they can accomplish.” Only the varsity runners will be running this weekend, as the team is only allowed to run seven runners.
Cross Country
On September 3, the Orange High cross country team traveled to Jordan High School for the first race of the season. The race consisted of four schools, Orange, Jordan, Research Triangle High School, and Hillside. The girls team did very well, beating all three of the other teams and starting the season 3-0. Orange’s own Adalynn Fleming, Claire Barger, and Julianna Lester were the top three runners in the girls race. The boys team did decently well for the first meet of the season. They were 1-2, winning a close race against Hillside. This was the first race for many of Orange’s runners, and they have been working hard.
The next meet will be on Saturday, September 13 at Hagan Stone Park in Greensboro. They will race at that course twice this year, so it will be a good measure of how fast they have gotten over the course of the year. The team has been running hard all year long and this is just the beginning, they can only get faster from here.