SPRING HILL — The Hamlet Middle School boys’ and girls’ cross country teams opened their season Thursday with a one-two punch to sweep the competition at Spring Hill Middle School.
It was the same place the Lady Red Rams left off from last fall, as the Hamlet girls are the defending Southeastern Middle School Athletic Conference champions. The Red Rams finished second in last year’s championship run, and showed off this fall’s talent in the season opening meet.
Both teams were pretty evenly matched, seeing the Lady Red Rams win with a score of 29 points and the Red Rams not far behind with 32 points. Rockingham Middle School’s girls’ team was second with 58 points, followed by Spring Hill (61 points). In the boys’ standings, it was Spring Hill (72), Carver (83) and Rockingham (84) behind the Red Rams.
Running a 2.1-mile race around Spring Hill’s campus, the top four runners from each team saw their placement go toward their team’s score. No official times were submitted from the race.
Hamlet’s Zoie Smith finished first overall in the girls’ race, followed by Rockingham’s Gabby Lutz in second. The other Lady Red Rams to finish were Jenna Gardner (fourth), Layla Smith (10th) and Shianna Chaparro (14th) for the 29 points. Helping offset other teams’ runners were Alivia Webb and Emma Altman, both of whom finished in the top 19 spots.
The Lady Rockets’ top four runners consisted of Lutz, Mariana Mendez (sixth), Kaleigh Cloninger (18th) and Aryonna McQueen (32nd).
In the boys’ race, the Red Rams saw their top six runners all finish in the first 17 spots. East Hoke’s Jacob Borman would take first overall, and Linder Garcia was Hamlet’s first runner to cross the finish line in sixth place. Right behind him in seventh and eighth place were Jason Walker and Samuel Hawks, respectively. Securing the win was Amir Morrison in 11th place, and Cain Hunsucker (12th) and Billy West (17th) kept other runners outside the top 20.
For the Rockets, the top four runners were Chance Spivey (fifth), Ryan Dickinson (19th), Jake Veach (25th) and DJ Gainey (35th).
Cordova’s girls finished fifth of six teams, and Ellerbe Middle School didn’t have enough runners to qualify for the team standings. Cordova’s Trinity Tobin was the top Lady Cavs runner with a fifth-place finish, and Taniyah Chambers was Ellerbe’s leading runner (39th).
For the boys, Ellerbe’s Jemell Bingham finished a team-best 13th place and Cordova’s best runner was Kejuan Bright (20th).
The next meet will be held on Monday at West Hoke Middle School in Raeford. Races will begin at 4:15 p.m.
