Fort Mill High School’s boys cross country team won the Warrior Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 26, at Stables Park in Pawleys Island, and the Fort Mill girls finished second to Spartanburg.
The Fort Mill boys scored 35 points, well clear of Academic Magnet (72), Spring Valley (106), Spartanburg (115) and Conway (167). Eleven boys teams posted full team scores.
Boys race
Junior Owen Ware led Fort Mill, finishing second in 15:44.67 behind Waccamaw senior Wilson Rutherford V, who won the 5,000 meter race in 15:15.99. Conway’s Coleman Drake was third in 15:50.69.
Fort Mill’s next four runners came in close behind. Senior Hudson Haley was sixth in 16:07.11, sophomore Jacob Audley seventh in 16:10.49, senior Ben Madej ninth in 16:27.77 and freshman Ian Zook 11th in 16:28.80. Just 44 seconds separated Ware and Zook.
Sophomore Liam Doheny (13th, 16:33.80) and freshman Nolan Sova (14th, 16:39.25) completed Fort Mill’s top seven. The Fort Mill scorers averaged 16:11.76.
Girls race
North Myrtle Beach sophomore Fenna Hollo won the girls race in 18:29.50, 13 seconds ahead of St. James freshman Mackenzie Johnston. Spartanburg took the team title with 42 points to Fort Mill’s 51, and Academic Magnet was third with 82.
Fort Mill seniors Kaylee Rovenstine and Mia Zook ran fifth and sixth in 19:18.90 and 19:20.30, and junior Bailey Nolin was eighth in 19:40.60. Senior Rachel Vinson (16th, 20:35.20) and sophomore Charlotte Spatola (19th, 20:41.10) rounded out the scoring. Seventh grader Eve Zook was Fort Mill’s sixth runner, placing 22nd in 20:47.50.
Spartanburg won the team race on depth. After freshman Ensley Dyar placed fourth, four Spartanburg middle schoolers followed in a pack just behind Nolin: seventh graders Nora Gray and Jane Harp and eighth graders Ella Smith and Lily Dargis finished ninth through 12th. Spartanburg’s top five finished within 49 seconds of each other, compared with a 1:22 spread for Fort Mill.
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Thomas Hyslip lives in Tega Cay with his wife and daughter. After 27 years in the U.S. Army and Federal Law Enforcement, he retired to pursue his passion for teaching. Tom is now an Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida. In 2 short years he has won 10 awards from the South Carolina Press Association, including first place in column writing, education beat reporting and best podcast.
