FAYETTEVILLE — A couple days following a regionals warm up race, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ and girls’ cross country teams returned to Sandhills Athletic Conference action on Tuesday at Jack Britt High School.
As the regular season winds down with only two more meets, Richmond competed against host Seventy-First High School, along with Jack Britt and Hoke County High School. The teams from Raeford would sweep the competition, seeing the Bucks (24 points) and Lady Bucks (29 points) earn an SAC win.
Head coach Jessica Covington saw her Lady Raiders take second place behind Hoke County with a score of 42 points. The girls’ team was without top senior runner Airel Brown who didn’t run due to illness. Despite not having her, Richmond had all five of its qualifying runners finish in the top 12.
Leading the pack for the Lady Raiders was sophomore Maylyn Wallace, whose time of 24:36 saw her finish second overall. Although it wasn’t her fastest time of the fall, it was Wallace’s best individual finish in a race and her first competition since last week’s race at Hinson Lake.
Freshman Sheccid Heaton was second for the Lady Raiders, crossing the finish line in seventh place with a time of 26:13. That time saw her bounce back from an uncharacteristic performance Saturday, cutting 2:02 off her pace.
The final three Lady Raiders to see their respective times count for the team score were senior Analee Wyand (26:56), freshman Rylie Bohman (27:12) and junior Allyson Leggett (27:21). Wyand’s top-three finish made it her best race and time of the season, while Bohman (15 seconds) and Leggett (52 seconds) each improved from the Patriot Derby over the weekend.
Other finishers for the Lady Raiders who didn’t qualify for the team score were: Abby Calhoun (27:24), Zamiya McInnins (27:38), Andrea Ellerbe (28:54), C’Nedra Hinson (29:04), Mercedes Ingram (30:11), Alena Craddock (30:19), Breanna Ball (31:44) and Hannah Stewart (33:06).
In the boys’ race, the Raiders’ six-man squad would be led by junior Carson Jordan who finished second overall (19:15). As he creeps closer to breaking into the 18-minute mark, his finish against the Bucks, Buccaneers and Falcons was nine seconds faster than his previous season-best time.
Head coach Reggie Miller’s team finished third overall, picking up 56 points amongst their top five finishers. Not running was senior Joey Nicholson (soccer).
Coming in back-to-back for the Raiders were juniors Joshua Wallace (11th, 22:34) and Will Thompson (12th, 22:41). Over the last two SAC meets, Thopmson has taken 1:25 off of his race time, including 34 seconds on Tuesday. It’s the first time he’s broken into the 22-minute frame, making it a new personal record.
Senior Devon Tillman had his best finish of the season, coming in 15th place with a time of 26:54, jumping up a couple of spots amongst his teammates. Freshman Ethan McDonald crossed the finish line at 27:06 (16th) for the final qualifying time, and fellow freshman Kodie Simmons closed things out with a time of 28:08.
Both Richmond teams will return to SAC action on Tuesday, Oct. 8, at Jack Britt and run against Pinecrest, Scotland and the host Buccaneers. The first race will begin at 5 p.m.
