By Ryan Bisesi
rbisesi@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY ó When life trips you, keep running.
That was Rebecca Parkerís mantra Wednesday at the Rowan County cross country girls meet at Dan Nicholas Park and she won the race, earning her Rowan County Runner of the Year.
The West Rowan sophomore overcame a couple of intruding stones that slowed her down temporarily to pull away late and earn a career-best 21:10.
ěI fell over a rock like twice, but other than that, I was goodî said Parker of the 5K race. ěMe and the Carson girl were literally right beside each other the whole time in the woods and I gained the lead at the very last mark.î
Parker, who surprised the audience when she won the pre-county meet in August, bested the competition by nine seconds in her first year running. She has placed in the top five in NPC meets several times and won both times sheís run at Dan Nicholas.
ěThis [course] is my favorite,î Parker said.
Carsonís Katie Nichols was second and keyed the Cougars winning the team standings with 41 points for the schoolís first county championship. Her 21:19 time was also a career-best by almost a minute and improved on her fourth-place finish in the pre-county meet.
ěKatieís just tough, mentally and physically,î Carson coach Les-Lee Efird said. ěSheís gotten so much confidence the past couple of races.î
Carsonís county title broke a string of five consecutive won by Salisbury.
Seniors Jakey Clark (22:53) and Alex Hunter (22:54) were seventh and eighth for the Cougars to place on the all-county team.
ěWeíve been training since May,î Efird said. ěItís finally paid off.î
West placed second as a team with 48 points. East Rowan (82), Salisbury (86), South Rowan (93) and North Rowan (169) rounded out the standings.
Hannah Houston (South, 22:08) was the runner-up in the pre-county meet and settled for third. Eastís Cacy Honeycutt (22:13) finished fourth as the Mustangsí top finisher. Susannah Dixon (22:24) was fifth for Salisbury.
West had Allison Baucom finish sixth at 22:27 and Mary McCachren ninth at 23:02.
Madeline Labovitz was 10th with a 23:17 time. Northís Danielle Eagle (25:51) was the top Cavalier finisher.