No titles, but area stars shine at state cross country meet
State titles were not in the cards for area cross country runners Saturday, but by no means was the day any less positive or productive.
Held at the Sandhills Research Park in Columbia, the annual state cross country meet offered an opportunity for runners to earn individual and team gold, if not anything more than the chance to test themselves against the best South Carolina has to offer.
Green Sea Floyds’ boys team was able to come home with hardware, however, finishing second place in Class A with 90 points. Five of seven Trojans runners finished among the race’s top 25, led by Alfredo Vasquez, who claimed ninth, crossing the line in under 20 minutes.
A perennial powerhouse in state cross country circles, Waccamaw did nothing to diminish its reputation. The Warriors boys and girls teams finished third and fourth, respectively, in Class 3A competition.
Making her debut at the state meet, Annabelle Scurry led the way for the Waccamaw girls squad, crossing the line with a time of 20:16 – good enough for eighth. Lillian Eddy and Ella Fata also did well at the meet, finishing 20th and 24th, respectively.
Georgetown and Aynor also competed in the Class 3A girls meet, the Bulldogs earning 15th with a score of 408, while the Blue Jackets’ total of 423 was good enough for 16th.
Sophomore Perrin Jones was also impressive, crossing the line at the 17:14 mark, seventh among all Class 3A runners. Teammate Jack Moody also claimed a spot in the top 20, finishing the race in 17:38.
The Warriors’ Region VI-3A foes Aynor and Georgetown also took part, with the Blue Jackets taking 15th while the Bulldogs finished 20th.
In Class 4A, the North Myrtle Beach girls squad finished in the top 10, earning a total score of 248. Wilson Jenerette led the way, crossing the line 23rd (20:13), while Breeauna Spickler was 29th with a time of 20:40. St. James was 16th with a team score of 480.
On the boys’ side, a solid finish by freshman Tyler Flannelly buoyed Myrtle Beach to an 11th place finish. St. James wasn’t far behind with a score of 334, good for 13th.
Green Sea Floyds – led by a team largely consisting of seventh-graders – finished 17th in the girls Class A/2A meet.
Several individual performers also put on for their schools at the event.
Carolina Forest’s Michael Pieterse claimed 19th among all runners in Class 5A, the best finish by local runners in the classification. Socastee’s Keahi Mendoza was not far behind, his time of 16:55 allowing him to finish 41st.
Kenia Smith of Conway was the best area runner in the girls Class 5A race, finishing 55th.
BOYS 5A
Michael Pieterse, Carolina Forest - 19th, 16:35
Keahi Mendoza, Socastee - 41st, 16:55
Nick Lefever, Socastee - 57th, 17:12
Elijah Lawson, Socastee - 60th, 17:17
Shane Mooney, Conway - 68th, 17:19
GIRLS 5A
Kenia Smith, Conway - tied 55th; 20:55
SKasie Ingram, Socastee - 110th; 22:07
Janneke Morin, Socastee - 140th 23:23
BOYS 4A
Myrtle Beach - 11th (321)
Tyler Flannelly - 11th, 17:08, Miguel Garcia - 64th, 18:20, Curt Caudle - 70th, 18:25, Nestor Llanot - 81st, 18:42, Christopher Chapman - 85th, 18:48, Taylor Dunn - 127th, 20:01Cameron Friend - 135th, 20:46
St. James - 13th (334)
Nolan Fuss - 34th, 17:29, Ryan Hughes - 42nd, 17:45, Christopher Young - 50th, 17:57, Caden Martinez - 103rd, 19:20, Corey Justice - 105th, 19:21, Deep Patel - 109th, 19:26, Brandon Mitchell - 122nd, 19:54
GIRLS 4A
TEAM
North Myrtle Beach - 10th (248)
Wilson Jenerette - 23rd, 20:13, Breeauna Spickler - 29th, 20:40, Havana Charles - 61st, 22:10, Emily Worsham - 64th, 22:14, Macy Werner - 71st, 22:22, Taylor Monahan - 74th, 22:25, Krista Drozdowski - 103rd, 24:03
St. James - 16th (480)
Karleigh Jones - 79th, 22:39, Laura Nerdahl - 93rd, 23:31, Myra Leach - 100th, 24:00, Baylee Payne - 101st, 24:00, Kasey Emilie - 107th, 24:10, Reagan Parr - 109th, 24:13, Hannah Shelley - 127th, 25:32
INDIVIDUAL
Olivia Hull, Myrtle Beach - 107th, 23:42
GIRLS 3A
Waccamaw - 4th (127)
Annabelle Scurry - 8th, 20:16, Lillian Eddy - 20th, 21:10, Ella Fata - 24th, 21:24, Briley Arnold - 37th, 21:52, Madeline Francke - 38th, 21:55, Samantha Kelley - 41st, 21:59, Zoe Dear - 44th, 22:04
Georgetown - 15th (408)
Kennedy Beach - 35th, 21:48, Daya Toledo-Franco - 62nd, 22:45, Baxley Crammer - 86th, 23:54, Mary Cooper Jordan - 112th, 25:17, Kate Crocker - 113th, 25:19
Aynor - 16th (423)
Hannah Page - 49th, 22:14, Bailey Johnson - 68th, 22:56, Chasity Stewart - 97th, 24:18, Samantha Lewis - 98th, 24:28, Katie Gunter - 111th, 25:14, Britney McKeone - 125th, 26:29
BOYS 3A
Waccamaw - 3rd (149)
Perrin Jones - 7th, 17:14 , Jack Moody - 19th, 17:38, Weston Stokes - 34th, 18:16, Robert Buffington - 38th, 18:20 , Brendt Anderson - 51st, 18:31 , Jonah Stump - 67th, 18:58, Bennett Stover - 90th, 19:14
Aynor - 15th (381)
Dustin Squires - 39th, 18:20, Trey Richardson - 70th, 19:00, Railey Smith - 71st, 19:00, William Blackmon - 84th, 19:06, Jessie O’Neill - 117th, 20:02, Henry Sherrill - 121st, 20:16, Emory West - 133rd, 20:58
Georgetown - 20th (519)
Ben Martin - 56th, 18:42, Shawn Lindsey - 103rd, 19:32, Jesus Lara Marquez - 112th, 19:47, Ward Daniels - 118th, 20:05, Samuel Wood - 130th, 20:40, Hugo Roblero Robler - 136th, 21:48, Ellis Gillieland - 138th, 22:12
BOYS A
Green Sea Floyds - 2nd (90)
Alfredo Vasquez - 9th, 19:39, Gage Floyd - 17th, 20:21. Bryce Floyd - 18th, 20:29, Joshua Gore - 22nd, 20:41, Jackson Jeter - 24th, 21:01, Jared Crankfield - 29th, 21:15, David Lopez - 35th, 21:49
GIRLS A/2A
Green Sea Floyds - 17th (436)
Tania Alvarado - 72nd, 25:04, Kirsten Causey - 79th, 25:55, Katiana Howell - 89th, 26:47, America Sandoval - 93rd, 27:05, Autumn Slobodiak - 103rd, 28:00, Brooklyn Sawyer - 107th, 28:41, Joana Jaimes - 111th, 29:12
Joe L. Hughes II: 843-444-1702, @thejournalist44
This story was originally published November 5, 2016 at 7:02 PM with the headline "No titles, but area stars shine at state cross country meet."