The 1999 season is turning into one of the best in years for South Rowan’s girls and boys.

Led by the individual victories of freshman Katie Willett and sophomore Brett Howell, the South teams have been competitive, and the boys accomplished a major feat by winning a dual meet at Davie County last Friday.

“It’s the first conference meet South has won in about four years,” said Chris Beaver, who shares the Raiders’ coaching duties with Dwayne Fink.

Howell won that meet with a time of 16:44 on Davie’s 3-mile course, while Matt Benfield was third in 17:52, Robbie Moore sixth in 18:30, Russell Perry seventh in 18:41 and Noah Burgess 10th in 19:02.

South edged Davie 27-28 for team honors.

South’s girls had only four runners, so the Raiders couldn’t score as a team, but Willett won easily in 19:25. Cassondra Stirewalt was third in 22:56, Katie Morgan fourth in 23:04 and Amina Khan 10th in 26:13.

South also had a meet at home against R.J. Reynolds on Thursday. The Raiders fell to the R.J. Reynolds boys 23-32.

Howell ran strong, taking second in 17:35, his best time of the season on a 3.1-mile course. Benfield was fifth in 19:19, Perry sixth in 19:30, Chris Hager ninth in 19:41 and Burgess 10th in 19:48.

Willett was again the star in the girls meet, winning with a time of 20:17. Stirewalt was fifth in 23:35, Morgan sixth in 23:49 and Khan 11th in 26:18.

For Willett, it was her fourth victory. She’s had finishes of 1-2-1-1-1 the last five meets.

“She’s been exciting to work with,” said Beaver. “It’s been exciting all year to coach her, watch her progress and watch her get better. I’m looking forward to the county meet, because we feel she has a shot at winning the whole thing.”

As for Howell, the South coach said, “He’s getting stronger. He’s really putting in a lot of mileage, especially on the weekends and really training hard. He’s determined to do well at the county meet.”

SALISBURY

The Salisbury girls and boys were winners in a four-school meet at Dan Nicholas Park on Thursday, when freshman Anna Griffis and junior David Bost took first places.

Griffis passed Ledford’s Carly Matthews in the final half-mile and won in 21:27 over a course estimated at 3.05 miles, a slightly shorter course than the one used in the county meet a year ago. Matthews finished in 21:36.

Others in the top five for coach Doris Rowe’s girls were Katie Troxler, third in 23:37; Maria Mendez, fourth in 23:39; Manita Cole, eighth in 24:53; and Anna Cunningham, ninth in 24:54.

Salisbury had a team score of 27 to Ledford’s 46. High Point Central and North Rowan did not have enough runners to score.

Bost paced boys with a time of 16:55, while Brandon Black of Ledford was second in 17:16.

Other leaders for the Hornets were Michael Gaus, third in 17:17; Tyler Vanderslice, fourth in 17:27; Matt Dennison, sixth in 18:17; and AdamPannell, eighth in 18:55. Salisbury had seven of the top 10 runners with Nirav Patel and Rodney Krider finishing ninth and 10th, respectively.

CoachMike Allen’s Salisbury boys won with 22 points to runner-up Ledford’s 46. High Point Central was third with 74, followed by North Rowan with 125.

Salisbury’s boys also finished third on Saturday in a major meet, the Lowe’s Invitational, at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons. Mount Tabor won, followed by Chapel Hill.

Bost was third in 16:52, Gaus sixth in 17:04 and Vanderslice 14th in 17:35. Griffis was seventh in the girls race in 21:24.

FRANKLIN MINT: Salisbury struck it rich when Griffis transferred, because they got a young, talented runner who grew up in Franklin, a western North Carolina town that has produced outstanding female and male individuals and teams.

Griffis competed in two years of middle school cross country at Franklin before moving here, and she looked up to the high school runners.

“My sister was one of them, Emma. She was the top runner for the FranklinHigh School girls,” said Anna. “She’s at Chapel Hill (UNC) this year.”

Emma took 11th place in the state 3A meet in 1996.

“The first time here (Dan Nicholas), my time was 23 something, and this time it was 21:27,” said Griffis, who is aiming high for Tuesday’s county meet.

“I’m going to try to stay with Brooke Misenheimer. I don’t know if I can, but I’ll try to. She’s really good,” said Griffis, who says her goal is to run in “the middle 20s” next week.

Misenheimer, who has been bothered by shin splints most of the season, is the defending county champion.

“Anna’s one of those runners who can focus well and get serious about it,” said coach Rowe.

As for the upcoming county meet, Rowe said, “I think Anna could take Brooke individually, but I think, as a team, East is tough to beat.”

Griffis finished seventh in her first varsity meet when the county preseason meet was held

at Dan Nicholas, but she’s done well since.

“She’s been holding steady. There was a meet early on where she had broken 21 minutes, and she hasn’t done it since then. She can do it again,” said coach Rowe.

Salisbury has won five meets, including all four against Central Carolina Conference opponents, but the Hornets haven’t faced strong North Stanly yet.

“We’re supposed to run them next Thursday. That would be our indicator of how we’ll do in the conference.” said Rowe.

NORTH ROWAN

Susan Kobbe, North Rowan’s coach from Australia, hasn’t had big numbers at practices, because of conflicts with soccer and cheerleading, but she is enthusiastic about her team members.

“I am training with them,” she said, explaining that practices sometimes are with Jason Everhart and Amanda Wilson. “I vary my training. I’ll backtrack and pick up Amanda,” she said of the workouts.

Kobbe is an experienced runner and triathlete.

“They’re committed and they’re training well, and I’m enjoying running with them,” she said of the North athletes.

North had five boys entered in Thursday’s meet. Adam Black was 17th in 20:25, while Bobby Hundley took 23rd in 21:30. They were followed by Jason Everhart, 24th in 24:15; Chad Evans, 37th in 25:20; and Jimmy Cordell, 39th in 25:39.

Wilson was 10th in the girls race in 26:03.

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