Bryson City – As an eighth-grader last year, Andrews freshman O’Malley Salinas liked watching the high school race, seeing how they approached the 5,000-meter distance compared to the 2-mile distance of middle school meets.
This fall, high school runners have become familiar with how Salinas runs his races, as he once again took the lead in the final half-mile to take first at the Smoky Mountain Conference Championships at the Kituwah Mound Course on Saturday morning.
“It feels good,” Salinas said. “I’m really blessed. Body’s feeling good, it feels great, I was really happy with it.”
Though Salinas’ time of 16:43.20 was about seven seconds off his personal best, his goal for the race was just to win. He’s ranked second in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1A classification and will see the top runner, Christ the King sophomore Blake Nicholson, at the 1A West Regional Championship on Oct. 29 on the same course. Salinas is planning to peak at the regional and then state championship, which he will almost certainly qualify for.
“Really excited to race people I’ve never seen before,” Salinas said.
Salinas led a banner day for the Andrews boys, as the Andrews Middle School team won its first-ever conference championship. The Wildcats won every conference meet this fall. Gabe Clark led the way with a third-place finish to be named All-Conference, and Levi Clark, Elliot Salinas, Luke Clark and Kelby Waldroup were honorable mentions after finishing eighth, ninth, 10th and 14th, respectively.
“They made my job really easy as a coach,” Andrews Middle School coach Eric Duong said. “Because they’re really internally motivated. This group, they want to be successful and they’re willing to put in the work to be successful.”
Also taking home a title was the Murphy Middle School girls team by one point over Cherokee. The Lady Bulldogs and the Lady Braves have been the top two teams all season, with Cherokee usually coming out on top.
On Saturday, Murphy’s Kennedy White passed Cherokee’s Livia Crowe in the final yards of the race to take the lead, which ended up making the difference.
“Since sixth grade, a lot of these girls have been with me,” White said. “And we’ve been working hard since then.”
Halie Hill finished third to be named All-Conference, while fellow Lady Bulldogs Marley Blackwell, Charlie Stalcup, Keirstin Westmoreland and Kenzly Yarbro were honorable mentions after finishing ninth, 11th, 12th and 14th, respectively.
Three other Cherokee County runners were named All-Conference, while another four received an honorable mention. In the boys middle school race, Hiwassee Dam/Ranger’s Oscar Page was named All-Conference after finishing fourth, and Maverick Hawley was honorable mention after finishing 12th.
Murphy Middle’s Braylen Edwards joined Hawley as an honorable mention with an 11th place finish. Hiwassee Dam sophomore Ethan Russell was All-Conference after finishing sixth, while senior Preston Hyde was honorable mention after finishing 10th.
In the high school girls race, Tri-County Early College freshman Fern Crayton was named all-conference after finishing fourth while achieving her season goal of breaking 20 minutes. Murphy sophomore Corinne Cotton finished 14th and was an honorable mention.