by Lisa Hinton-Valdrighi
Lancaster High sophomore Hailey Smith and senior De’Avion Harding paced the packs as the individual medalists last Wednesday at Hills Quarter subdivision in Kilmarnock in the Red Devils’ first home cross country meet of the season.
Harding led 45 runners and Lancaster’s boys team to a win in the three-team meet. LHS had three runners finish in the top 10 for a team low 37 points. Middlesex was second with 41, West Point was third with 47. Rappahannock did not score as a team. Harding ran the 3.1 mile race in 17:57.
Smith was a 1 1/2 minutes faster than Middlesex High’s Sarah Baker in the girls meet. Smith ran the race in 21:00 flat to pace 29 female harriers, while Baker ran a 22:36 race as the runner-up.
West Point took first as a team with a low 26 points and had all five scorers finish in the top 10. Middlesex was second with 48 points and Lancaster third with 56. Rappahannock did not score as a team.
Lancaster comes off a successful cross country season and returns Smith to anchor the girls team and Harding to lead the boys.
Lancaster sent both its boys and girls teams to the state meet last year for the first time in four years. The girls finished ninth and the boys eighth with returner Smith finishing sixth.
LHS also returns several boy harriers who turned in personal best times in last year’s state meet including junior Marshall Lee and senior Adam Wilmore.
In last week’s meet, Michael Folks placed sixth, 21:22, and Lee was seventh, 21:28. Newcomer Jameson Scott ran a 22:06 race and Wilmore ran a 22:38 race as the five scorers for LHS.
In the girls meet, Chrya Boyd was the only other LHS runner in the top 10. She placed seventh with a time of 26:04. Lancaster’s Tara Gill, 30:25, Olivia Saunders, 30:41, and Laila Waters, 32:23, also scored for LHS. Skylar Bean finished with the Lancaster pack, following Waters across the line in 33:45.
Lancaster’s runners will be on the cross country trail again Saturday, September 14, at the William & Mary Invitational. The Devils will host King & Queen, Mathews, Northumberland and Washington & Lee Wednesday, September 18.
SCHEDULE
September 14 at William & Mary Invitational
September 18 K&Q, Mathews, Northumberland, W&L
September 25 at Mathews
October 1 at West Point
October 9 Essex, K&Q, Northumberland, West Point
October 23 at Washington & Lee
October 30 Essex, Northumberland, Rappahannock, W&L