HAMLET — The cross country season for the four Richmond County middle schools got started last week on the campus of Richmond Community College.
Running a shortened season that will end before holiday break, this year’s conference features in-county opponents only. All races are being held at RichmondCC and are 2.1 miles in length.
The Hamlet Middle School boys’ team took first place with 14 points, while the Rockingham Middle School girls took the top spot in their race (18 points). To calculate the winning scores, the top four runners’ final placement from each team are added together, with the lowest score winning.
Four Red Rams crossed the finish line in the top six spots, seeing Jacob Bostick take first overall in the boys’ race. He was followed by teammates Chamara Shaw (third place) and Jason Walker (fourth place). Billy West secured the win for Hamlet with a sixth-place mark.
Elijah Hollingsworth (12th) and Landon Dunn (14th) also raced for Hamlet.
Leading the way for the Lady Rockets was Mariana Mendoza, who was first overall. Rockingham also had two other runners finish in the top four, seeing Presley Dawkins (second place) and Ella Munn (fourth place) keep the team’s score low.
Ella Gibson took 11th overall for the Lady Rockets, icing the win for Rockingham. The final Lady Rocket was Haley Singleton, who crossed the finish line in 14th place.
The Hamlet (23 points) and Cordova Middle School (44 points) girls finished second and third respectively. Ellerbe Middle School did not have any female runners.
The top four runners for the Lady Red Rams were Layla Smith (3rd), Alivia Webb (5th), Saquann Bostick (6th) and Anahi Gomez (9th). Cordova’s girls’ team wasn’t far behind, using finishes from Trinity Tobin (7th), Amia Peagram (8th), Amariah Gibson (14th) and Ejgyt Bright (15th).
The Cavaliers took second in the boys’ race, just 20 tallies off the Red Rams with 34 points. Leading the way for Cordova was Kajuan Bright (5th), Ganzdo Gonzalez (8th), Adrian Padron (10th) and Braxton Martinez (11th).
Ellerbe Middle’s boys team notched a third-place finish (44 points) behind efforts from Sam Thompson (7th), Sean Smith (9th), Jake Richardson (13th) and Brooks Calhoun (15th).
Rockingham’s boys tallied 59 points and saw Ryan Dickinson impress with a second-place finish. Graham Odom, Ben Lutz and Naquarius Johnson finished 18th through 20th, respectively.
Allen Adeimy, Ellerbe’s athletic director, expressed his gratitude to RichmondCC, Brent Barbee and Gary Aycock for helping facilitate the meet.
Note: final results were contributed by Amanda Gainey, Rockingham’s athletic director. No final times were submitted.
