ROCKINGHAM — For the second time in five days, the 10 Southeastern Middle School Athletic Conference boys’ and girls’ cross country teams ran at Hinson Lake. But it was the first time all season Hamlet Middle School didn’t complete the sweep.
Instead, it was Sandy Grove Middle School (Lumber Bridge N.C.) that took the respective top team spots, with the Lady Panthers earning a meet-best 17 points, while the Panthers collected 31 points. Hamlet’s teams, which had won all three previous meets, each took second overall.
All four of Sandy Grove’s female runners would finish in the top 10 spots, going back-to-back in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. Lailah Crowder and Sachiko Matthews would take first and second.
Hamlet’s Zoie Smith, who notched her second first-place finish of the season last week, still managed to finish No. 3. Her Red Ram teammate Linden Garcia finished third overall in the boys’ race, as the pair of finishes was the best of the four Richmond County Schools competing.
The Lady Red Rams saw Smith (3rd), Layla Smith (8th), Jenna Gardner (11th) and Shianna Chaparro (15th) cross the finish line for a second-place tally of 37 points. For head coach Michelle Denson’s Red Rams, their 36 points for second place came way of Garcia (3rd), Amere Morrison (8th), Cain Hunsucker (10th) and Samuel Hawks (15th).
Coming in third place as a team was Rebecca Pierce’s Rockingham Middle School Lady Rockets, who finished in the same spot as they did in last week’s 2.1-mile race. Leading the way was Gabby Lutz, taking seventh overall out of 57 runners for another top-10 finish this season.
Rockingham’s Gabby Lutz (right) finished seventh in Tuesday’s meet.
Behind Lutz for the Lady Rockets were Mariana Mendez and Kaleigh Cloninger, who finished 12th and 13th, respectively. Rounding out the top four was Ella Munn (30th) for a total team score of 62 points.
The Rockingham boys, led by Chance Spivey (6th) took fourth place with 73 points. Also competing for the Rockets were Ryan Dickerson (12th), Jeremiah Ritter (23rd) and Jake Veach (32nd).
Ellerbe and Cordova middle schools also competed, seeing Ellerbe’s Jamell Bingham (11th place, boys) and Cordova’s Trinity Tobin (23rd place, girls) take the top spot for their respective teams. The Cordova girls’ team took seventh overall (144 points), while the Cavaliers finished ninth (181 points).
Rounding out Richmond County’s teams were the Ellerbe boys (8th, 124 points) and girls (9th, 151 points).
All teams will get a two-week break to prepare for the SEMSAC championship meet, which will be held at Spring Hill Middle School on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 4:15 p.m. The Lady Red Rams will seek to defend their title run last season.
Coach Allen Adeimy contributed to this article.
