Moore, South vindicated

GRANITEQUARRY — Robby Moore accepted the blame for South Rowan’s loss in the Pre-County Meet with a sense of humor.

With a sense of purpose, Moore played a vital role in helping the Raiders win the meet that counts.

Moore, normally South’s fifth runner, placed fifth overall to help the Raiders win Tuesday’s County Meet at Dan Nicholas Park.

Moore had been edged out by East Rowan’s fifth and sixth runners by one second in the Pre-County Meet, which led to a two-point win by the Mustangs.

South Rowan finished with only 25 points on Tuesday, 10 better than East.

“All season Coach (Dwayne Fink) has been hounding me, ‘Your fault, your fault, your fault,’” Moore joked afterward, referring to his coach’s friendly ribbing. “He said I was weak mentally, that I had to be strong today.”

Moore, who finished with a time of 17:50, had never broken the 19-minute mark in a 3.1-mile race. He crossed the line as the third finisher for South, which had five runners — including three seniors — in the top nine.

“We deserved it more than anybody out there,” saidMoore, one of the elder statesmen. “There’s a corps of us that have been here since we were freshmen.”

Said East coach Rick Roseman, “If I wasn’t disappointed, I’d by lying. I just told our guys the team that runs the best on that day is the best team.”

The Mustangs were led by Philip Johnson, who finished first individually with a time of 16:59. He took over the lead at the two-mile mark and finished two seconds ahead of South’s Adam Richardson.

“Anytime you’re the best at anything in the county, that is an extreme compliment,” Roseman said. “Philip works hard, and he has earned that.”

Salisbury coach Mike Allen said he wasn’t satisfied with the work ethic of his team after it was beaten out for third place by West Rowan.

Ryan Lesley, who finished third in the Pre-County Meet, has been hampered by a left thigh injury and placed 10th.

Allen said Lesley hasn’t been able to run his typical 45 to 50 miles a week because of the injury. He added that his other runners don’t have an excuse for their minimal weekly mileage.

“A lot of guys, Idon’t think they put in the effort,” Allen said. “You can’t fake training.”

Moore can attest to that. He said Fink’s motivational tool fired him up and made him work extra hard in practice.

It even worked during Tuesday’s race, when Moore ignored the pain and went into overdrive.

He wasn’t going to let this chance slip away.

“It was like, if you step up, you could be the real difference in this meet,”Fink said. “It certainly turned out that way. He ran probably, in the four years that he’s been running, the best meet of his career.”

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Contact Bret Strelow at 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com .