Brevard boys, girls sweep Mountain Foothills 7 cross country titles

After watching West Henderson High's boys and girls capture individual and team titles in the Mountain 7 Conference Cross Country Championships on Tuesday at Jackson Park, Brevard's boys and girls accomplished the same feat in the Mountain Foothills 7 Conference Championships.

Brevard's Knox Witherspoon broke 16 minutes with a time of 15:59 to win the boys race, and Lucy Murray followed with a time of 19:05 to win the girls race. Both Blue Devil teams also captured team titles.

For the girls, as the closing ceremony for awards was beginning, one runner was noticeably absent — the girls race winner, Murray.

"She's running the course on a cool down," one of the Brevard runners said. And one of the boys runners took off and said, "I'll find her."

He did, and she got back just in time as the individual awards were being handed out. Murray had been runner-up the past two seasons, but this season, she ran a personal-best time to capture the title.

"I've been runner-up the past two years, so it felt really good to get first. I'm really happy with it," she said.

Her time of 19:05 was 40 seconds better than her previous personal best, she said. The weather was warm, with temperatures in the 70s. Despite the near-perfect conditions, things didn't start out perfectly, Murray said.

"It was super stressful in the beginning with the misfire three times," she said, referring to the starting gun misfiring. "So, I was super stressed out when we first started. But it was a super-fast course, and I was able to race the whole time, which is a nice feeling."

Murray led six Brevard girls in the top 12, which were named all-conference. Her teammates' results were Erin Huter in fifth (20:59), Arawen Leasure in sixth (21:25), Lily Rogers in eighth (21:58), Rose Coykendall in ninth (22:02), Saya Geer-Hardwick in 10th (22:03) and Emma Coye in 12th (22:46).

Other top area finishers were Polk County's Olivia Overholt in third (20:12), Hendersonville's Ella Smith in fourth (20:41) and Polk's Tori Thompson in seventh (21:32).

In the team scores, Brevard dominated with a 29, and Hendersonville was runner-up with an 81. R-S Central rounded out the top three with a 90. The complete scores were unavailable as of Wednesday afternoon.

In the boys race, Witherspoon said he not only wanted to win the conference but also wanted to break 16 minutes. As he rounded the final turn, he could see the clock and knew he had a shot. He gave one last sprint to the finish, and he crossed the line with a second to spare, with Brevard fans cheering him on.

"I was wanting to break 16 minutes, and I did just barely," he said.

The Blue Devils knew Tuesday's meet would be a challenge, since they were missing one of their top runners. But as a team leader, Witherspoon said he encouraged his other teammates to get the team win.

"I tried to hype up the team as much as I could, since we were missing our No. 3 guy. It paid off. We all ran  really well with a lot of PRs," he said. "It was a conference win on both sides ... you can't ask for much more."

Up next for area 2-A teams will be the 2-A West Regional meet, set for Oct. 30 at Freedom High School in Morganton. The top four teams and top seven individuals not on a qualifying team will earn spots in the 2-A state championship meet, which will be Nov. 6 in Kernersville.

TUESDAY'S MOUNTAIN FOOTHILLS 7 CONFERENCE RESULTS

BOYS

Team scores: Brevard 32, R-S Central 54, Patton 91, Polk County 97, Hendersonville 108, Chase 225, East Rutherford NS

Individual top 15 (all-conference): 1. Knox Witherspoon (Brevard) 15:59, 2. Abdi Green (Brevard) 16:39, 3. Van Robbins (R-S Central) 17:10.3, 4. Vance Jones (Patton) 17:18.9, 5. Turner Knox (Hendersonville) 17:22.9, 6. Braxton Edwards (Polk) 17:23.8, 7. Leo Murray (Brevard) 17:25.0, 8. Hayes Weatherman (R-S Central) 17:28.5, 9. Noah McLauchlin (Brevard) 17:33.9, 10. Reagan Holley (R-S Central) 17:38.9, 11. Mark Teague (Polk) 17:41.9, 12. Gabe Wykle (Patton) 17:57.8, 13. Eli Snowden (Brevard) 18:10.7, 14. Charlie Bennett (Patton) 18:24.8, 15. Trey Galloway (Brevard) 18:26.3

GIRLS

Team scores: Brevard 29, Hendersonville 81, R-S Central 90, East Rutherford 130 (NOTE: Complete scores from the rest of the teams weren't available Wednesday afternoon)

Individual top 15 (all-conference): 1. Lucy Murray (Brevard) 19:05.90, 2. Brooke Hope (R-S Central) 19:18.37, 3. Olivia Overholt (Polk) 20:12.44, 4. Ella Smith (Hendersonville) 20:41.17, 5. Erin Huter (Brevard) 20:59.60, 6. Arawen Leasure (Brevard) 21:25.80, 7. Tori Thompson (Polk) 21:32.03, 8. Lily Rogers (Brevard) 21:58.34, 9. Rose Coykendall (Brevard) 22:02.27, 10. Saya Geer-Hardwick (Brevard) 22:03.17, 11. Malaia Crowe (Hendersonville) 22:43.10, 12. Emma Coye (Brevard) 22:46.47, 13. Madeleine Cable (Hendersonville) 22:47.17, 14. Marina Mace (East Rutherford) 23:21.90, 15. Halle Lowery (Chase) 23:28.80