Newton – On a chilly Saturday afternoon, runners took to Southside Park, yearning for a chance to qualify for the NCHSAA Class 1A Cross County Championship.
Tri-County’s Sydney Bolyard continued her stellar senior season, placing third in the girls’ 1A West Regional with a time of 20:09.
While the Tri-County girls team as a whole did not finish high enough to qualify for the state meet, Bolyard’s third place finish was good enough to earn the senior a spot in the championship in Kernersville on Saturday, Nov. 9.
On the boys side, Murphy’s boys team finished second overall, earning the Bulldogs’ squad a spot in the boys championship.
The Dogs were paced by junior Chase Pierce, who finished third overall in 16:57.
Joining Pierce in the top-ten was is fellow Murphy junior Caleb Jones, whose time of 17:29 was good enough for seventh place.
Also finishing for the Bulldogs were Andrew Bryson (12th place), Caleb Rice (19th place), Christian Tighe (28th place), Clayton Laney (32nd place) and Richard Ly (34th place).
Murphy’s combined score between its five-fastest runners was 66 points , which beat out the Hayesville Yellow Jackets (83 points) for second place.
For the Lady Dogs, junior Georjah Allen was the top-finisher, placing 17th with a 22:11 time.
Murphy senior Jennifer Hernandez finished shortly after Allen, running 22:21 for 19th place.