Staff report
CONCORD — Carson’s boys are going to be hard to beat this season, at least at the conference level.
Carson ruled the Pre-Conference Meet for the SPC on Thursday at Liske Park.
The Cougars posted a perfect score of 15 — that’s 1-2-3-4-5 — to win by a wide margin over a South Rowan team that competed without Eli Julian, the county’s top individual runner.
All five Cougars ran in the low 18s with a spread of 23 seconds.
Jorge Clemente-Garcia led the way in 18:01. He was followed by Eric Gillis, Bricen Burleson, Connor Price and James Anderson.
South was deep enough to finish second. Brian Hickman (8th) and Ethan Overby (9th) led the Raiders.
Ethan Wilson was sixth individually and led West Rowan to fourth place.
Gavin Rodges was 10th and led East Rowan to sixth place.
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South Rowan’s girls had a score of 51 and won the Pre-Conference Meet for the SPC on Thursday.
It was a team win. South’s highest finisher was Madison Beaver, who was sixth, while Madison Gulledge was 10th. The other three scorers were Gracie Hinson, Blythe Elliott and Brinley Patterson. All five finished in the top 16.
Carson was second with a score of 70. Emily Landaverde was the top Rowan individual and led Carson with a fourth-place finish in 23:15. Carson’s second runner, Julia Burleson, finished 12th.
East Rowan placed fourth. The Mustangs had three in the top 10 with Sadie Featherstone (7th), Jaydn Featherstone (8th) and Iyanna Lynch Berry (9th).
West Rowan couldn’t post a team score, but Katie Roberts finished fifth individually.
Northwest Cabarrus’ Gatsby Goode was the individual winner in 21:38. Lake Norman Charter’s Lily Yampolsky was runner-up.
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