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By Paul DurhamSports EditorAs he read the girls team scores over the public-address system at Gillette Athletic Complex following the conclusion of Saturday’s N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A East Regional cross-country meet, Fike head coachTom Griffith paused before announcing the name of the fifth-place finisher.It wasn’t done for dramatic purposes or because he didn’t believe it, but Griffith’s pregnant pauseLadysquirmtwo“Rocky Mount.”That meant Fike was one of the top-4 finishers and had earned its thirdm urthn MI-1 Itrir —I*-,... m.. - -.. - , ..•_ x■.straight appearance in the Hunt freshman Lauren Weststate 3-A championship meet, to be held Saturday at Kemersville’s Beeson Park.“Yes! We were all holding hands and praying,” said senior Martha-Scott Benson, who led third-place Fike with a 14th-place finish in 21 minutes, 12 seconds on the 5,000-meter course.Griffith, who said he knew prior to the announcement that his team had qualified, wasn’t so sure earlier as he attempted to do the math inhis head. ^ .“I was very worried,” said Griffith, who will end his 28-year coach-was second in the girls race at Saturday's NCHSAA 3-A East Regional cross-country meet at Gillette Athletic Complex.Paul Durham 1 Times(22:39) crossed at Nos. 31 and 32 respectively.“I wouldn’t be able to stay up without them. It’s hard for me to keep up with them but it’s worth it because they help me,” said Edmonds, who admitted to struggling at times in the blustery wind caused by the advance of Hurricane Sandy.While Fike was content to pack it in to earn a trip to Kernersville, Hunt freshman Lauren Westing career following the attacked the course. Shestate meet. “I thought for went out fast, leadingsure we had lost to Rocky ,Mount, which would haveput us fourth. Then there’s always the unknown.”But Fike, the Big East Conference champion without a top-10 runner, relied once again on the pack mentality. The LadyDemons’ five scoring runners crossed the finish linewithin 1:27 of each other.“The pack is definitely our strongest strategy. It’s what we do best with,” Benson said.Junior CeCe Yarbroughwas No. 25 overall in 22:12, a second ahead of sophomore Leighann Bowen while senior Kristen Edmonds (22:37) and junior Kristin Ewantwo-time defending regional queen and the 2011 state 3-A champion Blake Dodge of West Carteret. Ultimately, Dodge caught her near the midpoint of the race but West finished second with a career-best time of 20:01, “by about 20 seconds!” West chirped.West, who won the Wilson County championshipMonday, also defeated Nash Central’s Michaela Williams, the Big East champion, for the first time. Williams was third,18 seconds behind West.“I knew what I was running against but I didn’t expect to stay that close with them,” West said. “Michaela and Blake stayedright with me pretty much the whole time, so it was definitely interesting!”Dodge, hampered by calf and hip injuries and out of action for most of the month, gritted out a 19:52 finish.“A little slower than what she wanted to run but she wanted to go out and see out she felt and did enough to basically win regionals,” said West Carteret head coach Shelton Mayo, a North Johnston graduate.“I wanted to go out with the leaders and just stay with them until maybe the last mile but, at about the 1.5-mile mark, I could’ve gone faster so I didn’t see why not,” said Dodge. “So I just left and did my own thing, I guess.”Which was a win, albeit much slower than last year when she tra- -versed the Gillette course in 18:29,1:23 faster than Saturday.With senior Katie Cease having to pull out of Saturday’s race, West Carteret relied on Dodge and a quartet of Lady Patriots, who finished in order beginning with eighth-place Maddie Fisher, to win the regional for at least the third straight year.
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Wilson Times
Wilson, North Carolina, US
Mon, Oct 29, 2012
Page 17
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