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The prep cross country notebook ...
East Rowan’s boys have to be considered a threat to win their third South Piedmont Conference championship after a strong showing on Tuesday.
Coach Rick Roseman’s Mustangs lost to perennial power Sun Valley by one point in the SPC’s preseason meet at McAlpine Park in Charlotte.
Sun Valley, the defending league champion, won with 47 points to the Mustangs’ 48. Northwest Cabarrus was third with 73, followed by Piedmont, 109; Concord, 148; Harding, 163; Central Cabarrus, 172; West Rowan, 194; and Kannapolis A.L. Brown, 228.
East didn’t have a runner in the top five, but finished high because of its depth. Sophomore Philip Johnson led the way with a fifth-place time of 17:53 for the 5K distance, edging teammate Jeff Schoch by one second. Joshua Pinyan was eighth in 18:23, followed byJonathan Shive, 11th in 18:28, Adam Cornelius, 16th in 19:06.
“Our team is very confident in their abilities,” said Roseman. “We were very pleased at this point to come within one point of the defending state 3A champions. I think our depth is what’s going to really pay off for us. We pack a lot of people in tight.”
East beat Northwest for the first time in two seasons, and the Mustangs did it without injured Brent Dorris, who has shin splints. Roseman says Dorris is one of East’s top five.
“Northwest is still very strong. I think they were missing a runner, too,” pointed out Roseman.
“Three of our top six runners right now have never run — Jonathan Shive, Adam Cornelius and Noah Melton. The way they have started has been incredible. That’s been a very pleasant surprise.”
The winner Tuesday was Northwest’s Philip Stafford in 16:37. Sun Valley’s Brad Prudhomme(16:49) and Brooks Stone (16:53) took the next two places.
East’s girls finished fourth with 102 points behind Harding, 52, Northwest, 59, and West Rowan, 72. Central Cabarrus was next with 121, followed by Sun Valley, 133; Concord, 192; and Piedmont, 197.
Sophomore Crystal Swinson led the way for East, finishing third with a time of 22 minutes. Brittany Fox (12th), Lora Williams (18th), Ashley Sides (36th) and Elanie Centron (38th) rounded out East’s top five.
Jennifer Gruer of Sun Valley won in 21:40, followed by Becky Griffin of Northwest in 21:47.
WEST ROWAN
The young West girls team had another solid showing at McAlpine Park on the heels of winning the preseason Rowan County meet. Five of coach Kent Houghton’s third-place Falcons finished in the top 22.
Junior Allison Moore was West’s leader for the second straight meet with a seventh-place time of 22:17, while freshman Emily Wallace was two seconds back in eighth.
Others in the Falcons’ top five were Tiffany Oliver, 16th in 23:46; Ashley Haithcock, 19th in 24:17; and Natalie Jones, 22nd in 24:48.
Caleb White led West’s boys with a 19th-place finish in 19:18, while Scott Johnson took 40th in 20:36. Brian Duggan, Brian Schmitt and Patrick Adams completed the Falcons’ top five.
SALISBURY
Salisbury’s girls and boys were winners in a dual meet at City Park on Tuesday with the Hornets beating South Rowan’s girls 25-34 and topping South’s boys 18-44.
Sophomore Anna Griffis won her second straight meet for the Salisbury girls, running a 5K course in 21 minutes, 34 seconds. Teammate Maria Mendez, also a soph, took third in 22:42.
Defending state 2A champion David Bost paced Salisbury’s boys with a time of 16:56. It was also the second straight win for the senior.
Teammate Tyler Vanderslice was second in 17:21, while Nirav Patel and Ryan Lesley took fourth and fifth, respectively, in 18:21 and 19:23.
SOUTH ROWAN
Sophomore Katie Willett, the defending Rowan County champion, was second at City Park with a time of 22:08.
Other leaders for South’s girls were freshman RachelHinshaw, fourth in 22:51, and Beth-Erin Springer, fifth in 23:17.
Brett Howell paced the Raiders boys team with a third-place time of 18:11. He was the only South runner in the top seven.
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Ed Dupree covers cross country for the Post.
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Ed Dupree