Home Local Sports Brown earns All-SAC selection in SAC championship; Jordan leads Raiders

Brown earns All-SAC selection in SAC championship; Jordan leads Raiders

Senior Airel Brown (right) was named to the All-SAC team following Tuesday's SAC championship.
Kyle Pillar — The Richmond Observer.

RAEFORD — The seven Sandhills Athletic Conference schools with cross country teams met at the Carolina Horse Park on Tuesday for the season-ending SAC championship meet. 

Richmond Senior High School’s girls’ team would end its season with a fourth-place finish, while the Raiders took seventh place. Head coach Jessica Covington’s Lady Raiders finished the afternoon with 112 points, and head coach Reggie Miller’s boys tallied a final score of 176 points.

Pinecrest High School would sweep the competition to win the boys’ and girls’ SAC championship. The Patriots collected 16 points and saw their first four runners take the top four spots, while the Lady Patriots’ 18 points and top four finishers mirrored the boys’ efforts.

Tuesday’s race marked the second time this season Richmond ran at the racing venue. The two teams also participated in the Patriot Derby in September, and several runners took time off their pace in the second go around. 

For Richmond, senior Airel Brown and junior Carson Jordan would lead their respective team like they have all season. Brown cracked a top-10 finish, coming in ninth place with a time of 22:17. That time was 44 seconds than her first race, and saw her move up two spots in the standings.

Brown was also the lone Richmond athlete, male or female, to be named to the 2019 All-SAC team.

“I was very proud of the team today,” Covington said. “Airel made all-conference and Maylyn (Wallace) has four spots shy of placing all-conference. This team has shown so much improvement.  We are excited to go to regionals and hope to improve our times even more.”

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Jordan crossed the finish line in 18th place, clocking in at 19:14. He was just .60 seconds behind Scotland High School’s Keldon Clark, and his time was 45 seconds quicker than last month’s 5K race.

“The boys finished seventh and it’s not what we were expecting,” Miller said. “But they still competed at a high level. I was proud of their effort.”

Sophomore and No. 2 Lady Raider Maylyn Wallace, who didn’t run in the first meet at the Carolina Horse Park, finished in 18th place with a time of 24:03. Rounding out the top five for the Lady Raiders were freshman Sheccid Heaton (27th, 26:19), senior Analee Wyand (28th, 26:28) and junior Allyson Leggett (30th, 26:47).

For the boys, juniors Joshua Wallace and Will Thompson, along with freshmen Ethan McDonald and Kodie Simmons, crossed the finish line in succession in 38th through 41st place, respectively. Wallace finished with a time of 21:36, followed by Thompson’s mark of 21:42. McDonald recorded a time of 21:47, and Simmons rounded out the top five with 21:49.

Senior Devon Tillman, who recently verbally committed to run cross country at Pfeiffer University, ended his final SAC race with in 24:42.

Up next for both Richmond teams is the NCHSAA 4A Mideast Regional race, which will be held at the Carolina Horse Park on Saturday, Nov. 2



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Kyle Pillar is a 22-time North Carolina Press Association award-winning sports editor with The Richmond Observer. Follow the sports department on X @ROSports_ for the best in-depth coverage of Richmond County sports.