Salisbury High School’s strong boys cross country team had all the ingredients
necessary to win the state 2A championship in Charlotte last Saturday.First, there was talented junior David
Bost, Rowan County’s first official male cross country champ, who ran the 3.1-mile
McAlpine Park course in 16 minutes, 1.3 seconds.
Then there was a foreign exchange
student from Germany, Michael Gaus, who arrived in Salisbury after the season had begun. A
junior, Gaus earned all-state honors by finishing fourth in 16:32.5.
The team’s No. 3 runner in
the state meet, Darius Hyman, tried not to think about it, but he was hoping to make up
for a disappointing finish a year ago, when Salisbury finished second to North Henderson.
Hyman just missed all-state, taking ninth place in 17:06.6.
Next came Tyler Vanderslice, a
steady junior. Coach Mike Allen wasn’t worried about Vanderslice, who missed the
all-state team (top seven) by 20 seconds. Vanderslice was 13th in 17:19.2.
With four runners in the top 13,
Salisbury was impressive, but a cross country team is only as strong as its No. 5 man,
because of the scoring system. Points are scored based on finishing positions of the top
five runners. The lowest score wins.
Salisbury finished with 47 points
to runner-up Lincolnton’s 73.
“The most pressure was on
Matt Dennison,” said coach Allen. “I put it on him. He’s the team captain.
I was counting on him to be mentally tougher.”
Dennison placed 30th in the field
of 117 with a time of 17:52.5.
“It’s my last race here.
We’ve worked so hard, I just wanted our team to do what they deserved. Every time I
saw somebody from Charlotte Catholic, I just passed them. I had to. Coach Allen’s a
great coach. He cares a lot about us. He told us, ‘Just suck it up and do it for
yourselves.’ It was one of my best times. I broke 18 minutes, which was my goal. I
passed the guys I needed to. I’m really happy for us right now,” said Dennison
after the race.
Charlotte Catholic, which finished
third behind Lincolnton with 89 points, had been a big concern for Allen and his runners
going into the meet.
After finishing second in 1998 and
first in 1999, the Hornets obviously have one of the top programs in the state. How about
next year?
Bost, Vanderslice, NiravPatel
(49th in 18:18.3), Adam Pannell and Justin Leonard will each be back for his senior
season. Other team members this year were sophomores Ryan Lesley, Stephen Eldridge, Matt
Mitchell and Jacob Melton, and freshman Stephen Robinson.
Bost will be trying to be the
first Rowan runner, male or female, to win back-to-back state titles. East’s Rebekah
Frick was the state 3A champion in 1993, but an injury kept her from repeating as a
senior.
“If he does the right
training, I’m saying he could run in the mid-15 range regularly. As long as he
doesn’t get injured, as long as he doesn’t overtrain. I think he’s
dedicated enough.He’s already talking about how he’s going to train through the
winter,” said Allen.
Bost also has a major goal for
track season.
“He wants to get the county
two-mile record. He’s going to have to do a lot of training to get that,” said
the coach.
Jeff Hutchinson set the county
record for 3200 meters, 9:21.09, as a senior in 1980. Hutchinson also set the state record
(all classifications) of 4:08.1 in the 1600 that season, a mark that still stands.
Hutchinson, a West Rowan star,
almost became the county’s first state cross country champ. Running against all
classifications in 1979, he crossed the finish line first at Buies Creek. He was, however,
disqualified because he cut slightly inside a flag that marked a turn on the course.
Bost ran the 3200 in 10:11.62
while finishing fourth in the state last spring.
Vanderslice, who will be the other
key returnee, said, “Our top four should be pretty strong again, but we need that No.
5 guy. We’re going to really push it next year to repeat our championship.”
Vanderslice said the Hornets came
into the state meet focused on winning it all after coming up short in 1998.
“We were really disappointed
last year, because one of our top men kind of fell out. One of our greatest ambitions was
to run our hearts out, and we left it all on the course today. We wanted the state so
bad,” said Vanderslice.
“I thought I could have done
a little bit better,” he said. “I was a little disappointed I didn’t make
all-state. That was my goal from the beginning of the year. I’ve always got my senior
year. I know for a fact I’ll make all-state next year.”
“Tyler is mentally
tough,” said Allen. “I knew Tyler would run a good race. He ran very well.”
Salisbury’s girls also
competed in the state meet, and freshman Anna Griffis had a great race, just missing
all-state. She finished eighth in 20:58.4.
Other Salisbury leaders were
Manita Cole, 56th in 23:29.7, and Maria Mendez, 62nd in 23:42.8.
Salisbury finished 10th out of 15
teams with 237 points. Brevard was the winner with 84.
North Stanly, seventh with 214,
was led byJessica Hayes, 18th in 21:51.4. Mary Stallings of the Comets was 41st in
23:09.2. |
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