Home Local Sports Richmond XC teams both take 2nd in first meet

Richmond XC teams both take 2nd in first meet

ROSports File Photo: Senior Maylyn Wallace finished third overall in the Lady Raiders' season-opener on Wednesday.
Kyle Pillar — Sports Editor.

CAMERON, N.C. — The Richmond Senior High School boys’ and girls’ cross country teams each opened their season with a second-place finish on Wednesday.

Running the 3.2-mile Sandhills Athletic Conference meet at Union Pines High School, the Raiders and Lady Raiders finished behind the host teams. 

Also running was Lee County High School, but neither team had enough runners to qualify for points in the final standings.

The Union Pines boys’ team finished with a score of 16 points, with the Raiders collecting 47 points. In the girls’ race, the Lady Vikings had 18 points, followed by Richmond with 45 points.

Leading the way with the best finish for either Richmond team was senior Maylyn Wallace, who is a three-year runner, taking third overall in the girls’ race with a time of 24:36.38. 

Registering the win was Union Pines’ Eva Reinhardt (23:18.84), with teammate Laura Caviness finishing in second with a mark of 24:27.71.

Lee County’s Chloe Edwards (25:02.58) was fourth overall, but didn’t receive any points for the Lady Yellow Jackets.

Union Pines’ girls took the Nos. 4-8 spots to secure the win, while Richmond’s freshman Mariana Mednez placed ninth in her high school debut (27:13.22). Next for the Lady Raiders was sophomore Kaleigh Cloninger in 10th place (28:08.30).

Earning 11 points for the Richmond girls was junior foreign exchange student Michala Nechvilova, who crossed the finish line in 29:31.72. The Lady Raiders’ final two runners were freshmen Ella Munn (33:25.84) and Alivia Webb (35:39.75), who picked up 12 and 13 points, respectively.

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Making his cross country debut, like many of the other Raiders, was sophomore Javian Drake. Impressing with a time of  21:14.00, Drake was the top Richmond runner and took fifth overall.

Ahead of him were four Union Pines’ runners, including first-place winner Giovanni Rincon (18:09.00).

Senior Deshon Watson notched a spot inside the top 10, taking ninth overall and collecting nine points with a time of 24:02.00.

The Raiders took the next five spots that qualified for points, 10th through 14th place. Those finishers were: junior Kodie Simmons (24:28.00), sophomores Christian Sanchez (24:30.00), Cain Hunsucker (25:08.00), Paul McNeil (26:21) and Jamarion Wall (26:29).

Sophomore Toby McInnins also ran for the Raiders, placing just outside the timeframe for points, with a mark of 27:39.00.

“I was proud of the guys for how they ran in their first meet,” Donald Pettigrew, the boys’ head coach, said. “Javian finished fifth and Deshon finished ninth, and I’m so happy for them.

“As a team, I was beyond excited for how we competed. Kodie, Cain, Toby, Paul, Jamarion and Christian all did really well.”

The Raiders and Lady Raiders will host the first of their two home meets this season next Wednesday, Sept. 8 against visiting Hoke County and Southern Lee. The first race will begin at 5 p.m.



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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.