Lancaster’s Hailey Smith places first in state Class 1 cross country meet

Region A’s four-time champions (from left), Cameron Stearns and Hailey Smith, came away with gold from last weekend’s Class 1 state cross country meet. Stearns was the individual medalist in the boys race and Smith won the girls race. Photo by Robyn Saunders

by Lisa Hinton-Valdrighi

Lancaster High School has its first state cross country champion.

Senior Hailey Smith ran a 20:09.10 race in Salem last Saturday as the individual medalist in the Class 1 state championship meet.

Smith beat George Wythe’s Morgan Dalton by 13 seconds. Dalton was picked as the favorite to win the 3.1-mile race heading into to the November 13 meet at Green Hill Park.

Dalton, who finished in 20:22.9, and teammate Camryn Harding, who finished third (20:30.90), led GW to the team championship with a low 39 points. GW had three runners finish in the top 10 and all five of its scorers finish among the top 20.

Smith, who has finished in the top six in the state meet for the past three years, comes off a dominant senior season….[to-view-more]