LAURINBURG – For the first time since middle school cross country began four seasons ago, the Hamlet Middle School Lady Red Rams are conference champions.
The Southeastern Middle School Athletic Conference held its championship meet last Wednesday at Spring Hill Middle School. The Laurinburg-based school has been the site of the previous three championships, with the 2.1-mile race circling the campus before finishing with a sprint down the length of the football field to the finish line.
Coached by Michelle Denson, a physical education teacher at the school, the Lady Red Rams edged in-county rival Rockingham Middle School for first place, scoring a meet-low 16 points. The Lady Rockets came in second with 27 points, while Carver Middle School rounded out the top three with 63 points.
Trying to obtain the lowest team score (similar to golf), cross country awards points to runners in the place they finish. There are six runners per team, with the top four runners qualifying for the final point total. The other two runners are used as bumpers to try and displace runners from other teams for the best score.
Leading the way for Hamlet was sixth grader Layla Smith, who finished second overall behind Rockingham’s Emoni McDonald. Jenna Gardner (third place), Rylie Bohman (fourth place) and Sheccid Heaton (sixth place) rounded out the Lady Red Rams’ timesheet. Ally Moore (11th place) and Emma Altman (16th place) helped by finishing ahead of several Rockingham runners.
In the boys race, the Red Rams also impressed, coming in second place, edging host Spring Hill by one point, with a final score of 42 points. Top runners for Hamlet were Linden Garcia (fifth place), Christian Roberson (seventh place), Samuel Hawks (12th place) and Jeremiah McLean (18th place).
“I’m so proud of all of my runners,” Denson said of both the boys and girls teams. “Everyone ran to beat his or her personal best and that in itself is extremely rewarding. During the championship match, I told all my runners to keep their pace, but pick up speed once they got settled. And they did just that because all six of my girls finished in the top 14 places.
“My top four girls were our most consistent runners all season, and Layla was our No. 1 runner all year — she came out of nowhere during tryouts and got faster every time she took off,” Denson added. “Rylie is very vocal and competitive when she races. She and Jenna always worked together to keep these four girls coming in at the top. Sheccid, Ally and Emma were also consistent in their placement. They worked hard and knew getting in as fast as they could would break up the other teams’ points.”
Notching the second-place finish in the girls’ race for Rockingham, the only other Richmond County school to take a top-three finish in either championship race, were McDonald (first place), Gabby Lutz (fourth place), Andrea Ellerbe (ninth place) and Evie Homell (13th place).
Denson explained that this year’s girls championship and boys’ second-place finish was no accident. She said both teams “set the bar high” at the season opener at Hinson Lake where the boys and girls swept the competition, and only continued to get better from there.
In preparation for weekly meets, and the week prior to the championship run, Denson had her teams compete in “Mile Monday,” a practice where runners sprint as fast as they can go to work on conditioning. Tuesdays and Wednesdays were qualifying days where runners ran the two-mile race vying for a starting spot in the Thursday meet.
“We always timed everything,” Denson said. “Most of my runners are competitive soccer, baseball or basketball players out of season. They’re used to chasing a ball and having a purpose. It can be hard for them to stay mentally motivated when we are ‘just running.’ I preach to them to ‘beat their best’ and for them to run against themselves.
“It’s can also be hard when they’re just running around campus,” she continued. “The way to truly motivate them was to see their times. The first thing they wanted to know when they were done was to see how fast they finished. I kept a lot of runners on both teams because I wanted them to fight for those spots.”
Denson also credited her boys team for a season well ran, explaining that they were always fighting to come in the top spots.
“These guys are so fast,” she said. “It’s amazing to see these top runners come in from all of the surrounding schools. Christian has been battling injuries all season, but he still managed to get seventh place in the championship.
“It was awesome to be a part of this group that brought a championship back to Hamlet,” Denson concluded. “We have a lot of young runners who will be back next season and they will continue to keep Hamlet competitive in cross country for many years.”
