Watauga Wins 2! Conference Champions!

They did it!  Team wins for both Watauga Boys and Girls!  Conference Champions!

Girls Results:  The Girls won 41 to 48, over 2nd place Hickory.

Boys Results:  The Boys win 43 to 49.  Seven Watauga runners finished before Foard's 5th.

The Morganton News-Herald covered the meet.

Go Watauga! Go Seniors!

Volunteer for the Valle Country Fair Saturday, at the Valle Crucis Park.  Especially for late afternoon shifts.

Maybe the biggest meet of the year Wednesday.  The Nothwestern 4A/3A Conference Championship is at Freedom High School in Morganton.  Every team can go on to the regionals, so this is just for bragging and tradition.

UPDATE -- Boys start at 4:45pm and Girls at 5:30pm.

Watauga ran 65 athletes in the 2 races last year.  This will be the last meet for some of the Watauga seniors.

Directions:  There are directions to Freedom High School, Morganton, under Directions, in the column to the left.  But last trip to Morganton, the team went through Avery County to avoid the construction in and around Blowing Rock.  G Map, 1:13 from Boone.

Also, in case you stop reading this week, don't forget:

• There should be a banquet about mid-November.
• Usually a dozen or so Watauga athletes run at the Foot Locker South Regional on Nov. 30 in Charlotte.  You don't have to qualify for this meet.
• Will there be a kids' race next week?  Maybe not, if the university is no longer sharing the intramural fields. 
• Keep running.

Update:  NC Runners has their team rankings up.  It's best to ignore them.  Just run the races against whoever shows up.  (But Fred T. Foard does have the #10 and #12 3A teams.)

Saturday notes -- Coach Hoyal wins uphill race, Championship Wednesday

Coach Hoyal won the run up Howard Knob Friday evening.

The season is almost over.  One more week together for most runners.  Varsity runners will keep training and run at the West Regional back in Charlotte on October 26.  Michael and Kathleen and (I hope a lot of) others will be running at the state meet the Saturday after that.

The Conference Championship is at Freedom High School in Morganton.  Watauga should be the favorite to win both Girls and Boys.  It's going to be close.  Expect a great competition.  Watauga has dominated the Northwestern 4A/3A Conference, winning the Girls 27 times in the last 29 years and the Boys 24 out of 29.  Keep an eye on those Fred T. Foard and South Caldwell runners.  (72 degrees and partly sunny.  75 and PM sun.) 

There will be only two races, Boys  and Girls --no JV races .  Only the 5 fastest times count (except the 6th and 7th fastest can block other teams' top 5 scores), but everyone runs together.

Ashe County meet -- full results

Still a slot or two for volunteers tonight.  The conference meet is next Wednesday.

Here are the full results from the meet in Ashe.

1	Wilkes Cent.	Jordyn Halvorsen	22:28.1
2	Ashe	Mac Church	22:41.6
3	Ashe	Tyler Eller	23:20.4
4	Ashe	Alexes Armstrong	23:25.6
5	Wilkes Cent.	Makayla Estep	23:42.0
6	Ashe	Margot Mattix	23:42.5
7	Watauga	Mandy Eagle-Farrar	24:29.3
8	Watauga	Jesse Wangler	25:01.0
9	Watauga	Maddie Allain	25:10.7
10	Watauga	Barbara Ramsdell	25:15.9
11	Ashe	Brooklyn Roten	25:21.6
12	Watauga	Chloe Shaut	25:41.0
13	Wilkes Cent.	Randi Pinkerton	25:47.1
14	Ashe	Kalyn Chapman	25:52.6
15	Ashe	Caroline Trent	26:11.2
16	Watauga	Nichole Fanatico	26:16.4
17	Watauga	Caty Neely	26:22.7
18	Wilkes Cent.	Montanna Shores	26:24.8
19	Starmount	Janet Zamorra	26:25.1
20	Watauga	Simran Sethi	26:29.9
21	Ashe	Olivia Brettschneider	26:37.5
22	Ashe	Monica Francisco	26:51.3
23	Ashe	Audrey Anna Sanchez	27:07.6
24	Watauga	Sylvia Wood	27:12.4
25	Watauga	Dakota Harmon	27:12.7
26	Watauga	Rachel Foutz	27:29.7
27	Ashe	Claire Liszka	27:46.8
28	Watauga	Hallie McDaniel	27:52.6
29	Starmount	Jenny Carranza	27:58.1
30	Watauga	Kasey Stokes	28:17.7
31	Ashe	Kaitlyn Jordan	28:39.6
32	Watauga	Ruby Boisclair	28:57.2
33	Ashe	Lauren Testerman	29:01.1
34	Ashe	Amber Miller	29:03.3
35	Starmount	Amber Fernando	29:31.7
36	Watauga	Lucy Edy	29:40.5
37	Watauga	Katy Patton	30:12.4
38	Ashe	Kate LeaShomb	30:32.5
39	Watauga	Madison Scruggs	30:38.2
40	Starmount	Monica Sixtos	32:32.6
41	Watauga	Lindsay Cole	32:54.4
42	Ashe	Rosy Alvera	33:55.6
43	Starmount	Candy Morales	34:13.9
44	Starmount	Tessica Martin	37:13.4
45	Starmount	Michaela Cockerham	39:47.2

1	Ashe	Andrew Tedder	17:43.2
2	Ashe	Gareth Berry	17:48.6
3	Alleghany	Daniel Serrano	19:07.4
4	Wilkes Cent.	Austin Motsinger	19:15.5
5	Watauga	Bill Bisignani	19:18.1
6	Ashe	RJ Burke	19:23.8
7	Wilkes Cent.	Ryan Barrett	19:38.4
8	Watauga	Gabe Irwin	19:39.3
9	Watauga	Devin Windelspecht	19:47.3
10	Wilkes Cent.	Devon Redmon	20:21.4
11	Ashe	Brady Buchanon	20:27.9
12	Wilkes Cent.	Kobe Alexander	20:35.0
13	Wilkes Cent.	Duncan Battle	20:44.3
14	Ashe	Tyler Lambert	20:54.0
15	Ashe	Thomas McNeill	21:16.4
16	Watauga	Jake Ellington	21:25.1
17	Watauga	Jarrett Pritchard	21:33.8
18	Watauga	John Corley	21:42.2
19	Watauga	Sam Williams	21:49.0
20	Ashe	Billy Reyna	22:01.8
21	Ashe	Conner Donnachy	22:02.6
22	Watauga	Evan Miller	22:03.9
23	Watauga	Caleb Stoudt	22:14.1
24	Watauga	Caleb Zimmerman	22:21.8
25	Watauga	Daniel McAdams	22:31.5
26	Watauga	Jeremy McAdams	22:35.8
27	Watauga	Patrick Burton	22:42.5
28	Wilkes Cent.	Etahn Ortega	22:42.9
29	Watauga	Ben Taub	22:51.8
30	Alleghany	Lucas Rife	22:57.6
31	Wilkes Cent.	Peter Gray	22:58.3
32	Watauga	Jake Boggs	23:01.9
33	starmount	Stuart Wilkins	23:08.9
34	Watauga	Josh Lewis	23:16.1
35	Watauga	Deshaun Grimes	23:18.0
36	Watauga	Travis Tucker	23:18.3
37	Watauga	Zack Pifer	23:18.6
38	Watauga	Silas Keeter	23:41.9
39	Watauga	Logan Shaut	23:43.4
40	Watauga	Connor Badger	23:49.4
41	Wilkes Cent.	Andrew Gray	24:26.0
42	starmount	Brandon Gamble	24:50.5
43	Wilkes Cent.	DeAndre Nelson	24:58.1
44	Alleghany	Logan Edwards	25:25.1
45	Wilkes Cent.	Tanner Bailey	25:56.0
46	Alleghany	Austin Davis	26:04.6
47	Alleghany	Troy Hudson	26:06.1
48	starmount	Jared Horten	26:20.6
49	starmount	Gonzalo Zamorra	26:34.9
50	Ashe	Eben MacKnee	27:16.2
51	Watauga	Gabe Long	27:32.9

Girls Team                                Boys Team

Volunteer Friday and October 19

There are still a few slots for volunteers for Friday night concessions.  It must be a football game.

Also, a week from Saturday, on October 19, the Valle Country Fair!  At Valle Crucis Park.  The team needs volunteers and stuff.

Ashe County results -- partial

Coach Mac has posted results from this afternoon's meet.  Watauga Girls finish 3rd, led by Mandy, Jessie, Maddie, Barbara, and Chloe.  The Boys finished 2nd and were led by Bill, Gabe, Devin, Jake, and Jarrett.  Ashe County won their home meet, both Boys and Girls.

Look for full results under Announcements, in left column.  Nope.  Cannot load them.  I'll try again Wednesday.

Ashe County results

Coach Mac has posted results from this afternoon's meet.  Watauga Girls finish 3rd, led by Mandy, Jessie, Maddie, Barbara, and Chloe.  The Boys finished 2nd and were led by Bill, Gabe, Devin, Jake, and Jarrett.  Ashe County won their home meet, both Boys and Girls.

Look for full results under Announcements, in left column.  Nope.  Cannot load them.  I'll try again Wednesday.

Ashe County Meet Tuesday

Almost everyone goes to the meet Tuesday at Ashe County.  But about 20 of the faster runners will train with Coach Hoyal back in Boone.  Check Coach Mac's e-mail.  (9 days until the Conference Championship.)

The meet starts at 4:40pm.  The Boys goes at 4:40 and the Girls starts at 4:45pm, right behind them.  They should be home fairly early.

Will won on this course last year, but he took a wrong turn first.  Watch out.

Ashe County High School's website says that Starmount (Yadkin County), Allegheny, and Wilkes Central are coming.

Where is the actual course? Probably at the high school.
Ashe County High School is just off US Highway 221.  Map. 35 minutes.

* Take Hwy. 421 South to Deep Gap.

* Turn left on Hwy 221 toward Jefferson.

* School is on right, directly off of Hwy 221.
Additional hint: It's at the foot of Mt. Jefferson, not far past the left turn to downtown West Jefferson. 

Bonus news story -- In recent years, Green Hope (Cary) has been the scourge of NC Girls Cross Country.  They also have 225 runners.

Wendy's

GoBlueRidge -- "WHS XC Competes at Wendy's Invite"

Kathleen ran in the front pack for a long time, enough to get her photo here with the winner Myers Park's #2 and #3.  She and Celia ran sub-20s.  The team ran well.  The heat and humidity were not great for running, even for the early races.  It was hot by noon, so we don't see too many big PRs.

Here's one NC Runners view of the results :

	Watauga Girls
	1) Celia Jackson		19:48	PR!  First sub 20!
	2) Kathleen Mansure		19:58
	3) Lily Weeks		20:55	PR
	4) Lynde Wangler		22:18	best of the year
	5) Lauren Welsh		22:40	PR by almost a minute
	6) Finley Collins		23:28
	7) Sophie Sloboda		23:31	PR by almost a minute

 Boys

	1) Michael Holland		16:54
	2) Will Vandenberg		17:12
	3) Jacob Soule		17:18	PR by over 30 seconds
	4) Grant Pilkington		18:05	PR by over 30 seconds
	5) Andrew Harrelson		18:07	by far his fastest time in 2 years!
	6) Zack Styron		18:09
	7) Matthew Hellenbrand		18:18

Full results
Girls Invitational:
Boys Invitational:
Girls Junior/Senior JV:  Rachel at #128
Girls Freshman/Sophomore JV:  Jesse was running again!  PRs: Barbara 25:14.  Sylvia 26:22.  Nicole 26:27.  Kasey 28:24.  Lindsay 30:46. 
Boys Junior/Senior JV:  PRs: Deshaun 22:56.  Ben 23:02.  ZackP 25:08.
Boys Freshman/Sophomore JV:   616 total runners!  PRs:  JohnC 20:35.  Sam 20:44.  Jarrett 21:01.  Evan 21:13 PR by a minute.  Daniel 21:23 PR by a minute.  MichaelW 21:30.  JakeB 21:50. 

Parking at the elementary school (just north of the park, on Monroe) was plentiful, by the way.  They had buses and vans making frequent trips to the park. I waited about 3 minutes total for the round trip.  (They had good air conditioning!  I heard a guy complaining about it a 9am, but nobody complained at 2pm.)

No details yet about who is running at the Ashe County meet Tuesday.  Watauga is not attending the United Way meet.

Volunteer for concessions this Friday.

Wendy's results -- First look

NC Runners has results up --Results.

Girls: 22nd for team.  Celia Jackson PRs 19:48, for 43rd place. Kathleen Mansure just behing her, 19:58, 47th.

Boys: 22nd for team (just like Girls). Michael Holland, 16:54, for 61st place.  Will Vandenberg 17:12, 90th. Jacob Soule' just behind Will, with 17:18, for 95th.

NC Runners links. Directions and Parking.

There should be reports on the leaders through the morning on NC Runners (mixed in with reports from 2 other big meets in the state).  Full results should go up on NC Runners meet page, sometime during the afternoon.  Probably late afternoon.  NC Runners is planning a preview of the race, but it's not up yet, as of late Friday evening.

It may be too late, but here's an attempt at directions:  Google map.  I like this map of the course, and this map of the McAlpine Greenway. 
Coming from the north on I-77...take Brookshire Freeway (I-277) exit east to Independence Blvd (U.S. 74). Follow Independence Blvd. east (approx. 6 miles) until Village Lake Drive. Turn right onto Village Lake Drive. Travel on Village Lake Drive for less than a mile until it dead ends into Monroe Road. Turn left onto Monroe Road and McAlpine Creek Park will be less than a mile on your left (just before Railroad overpass).
And this from WendyV, from 2 years ago: "Usually if you go past the entrance to the park on your left, you will find overflow parking on the left at a shopping center just up the road.  It is much easier to get in and out if you park there.  Most of the time volunteers with vests will tell you where you can park - the businesses that are not open on Saturdays.  After you park, you just follow the others down a bank and go to the right at the bottom.  After you pass the train trestle, you will keep walking and usually see Watauga's tent on the left.  The starting line and finish will be straight ahead." 

Here are some of Coach Honea's videos from last year.  Girls.  Boys.   

McAlpine course -- Watauga has a pretty good record.

Here's the NC Runners page for Wendy's.  NCPrepTrack will have other useful links.

I like this one. 

Fastest NC Schools All-Time at McAlpine

On both Boys and Girls lists, Watauga stands at #3. 

3rd - WATAUGA
---------------------------------------------------------------
  7 Ricky Brookshire Watauga        14:57.7 1999 FootLocker
    Mike Clinebell   Watauga        15:14   1985 NCHSAA
    Patrick Phillips Watauga        15:27   1988 NCHSAA 4A
    Joe Lion         Watauga        15:27   1997 FootLocker
 69 Brian Greer      Watauga        15:35.4 1999 Great American
                   AVG FOR TOP 5:  [15:20.22]
Also:
 86 Will Hodges      Watauga        15:38.9 1994 NCHSAA 4A
 93 Ryan Woods       Watauga        15:40.2 1996 NCHSAA 4A
 94 Jody Corum       Watauga        15:40.5 1996 NCHSAA 4A
132 David Stroupe    Watauga        15:47.6 1998 NCHSAA 4A
    Daniel Osborne   Watauga        15:48   2010 NC 4A West Regional
    Peter Vandenberg Watauga        15:50.0 2011 NC 4A West Regional
154 Britt Marlowe    Watauga        15:50.2 1997 FootLocker

and

3rd- WATAUGA
---------------------------------------------------------------
    Darby Middlebrook    Watauga     17:35.0  2011 4A West Regional
 24 Kristin Stroupe      Watauga     18:02.0  2001 Wendy's
    Hannah Barbour  Watauga     18:37.0  2010 FootLocker
 92 Addie Bower          Watauga     18:44.4  1994 NCHSAA 4A
    Madison Harman       Watauga     18:46.0  2011 4A West Regional
                   AVG FOR TOP 5:   [18:20.88]     
Also:     
116 Marina Chase         Watauga     18:49.1  1998 NCHSAA 4A
119 Ginna Calloway       Watauga     18:50.0  2002 4A West Regional
138 Whitney Woods        Watauga     18:55.0  1997 Wendy's 

And Coach Mac must have coached many of these runners. 

 

Bus leaves at 6:00am 6:00am 6:00am Saturday

OK.  The bus will leave at 6:00am Saturday morning.

Pre-Conference Meet results

Girls results:  Kathleen wins again.  The team squeaks out a win, 39 to 42, over Fred T. Foard.  Lily, Celia, Lauren, Lynde.  Sophia just barely missed beating the 4th and 5th FTF runners.  Rematch in 2 weeks, but congratulations on this one!  Keep training.

Boys results: The Watauga Boys did not win.  They lost narrowly to Fred T. Foard by 48 to 53.  One report is that Michael Holland (and others) lost the course and that he was disqualified.  This meet was a chance to see the course where we'll contest the Conference Championship in 2 weeks.  We should be ready for a rematch.  As it was, Will finished 3rd, and MattO, Jacob, ZackS, and Andrew scored team points too.  We'll take a longer look, but Gabe finished under 20:00 for a PR.  Grant, Bill, Gabe, and Connor all finished before the 5th FTF runner.

No JV races.  Everyone ran in the 2 races.

Draughn is not in the Northwestern 3A/4A, but they are from nearby Valdese.

Wednesday and Saturday schedules. McAlpine Creek Park.

Wednesday -- Morganton
Wednesday's meet starts at 5:00pm.
Will there be JV races?  Probably.  Back to WHS at about 8:30-9:00pm. Maybe a little later, I'd guess.
There are directions to Freedom High School, Morganton, under Directions, in the column to the left.  But Coach Mac says that the buses will go through Avery County to avoid the construction in and around Blowing Rock.  G Map, 1:13 from Boone.
Fred T. Foard has a pretty strong team.

Saturday -- Charlotte
Coach Mac has posted the schedule.  Our team will be compete in 5 races.
Bus leaves WHS at 6:00am 5:45am
Arrive McAlpine Park by 9:00am (2:04 from Boone)

Girls Championship                                10:00am

Boys Championship                                10:30

Boys Individual Freshman/Sophomore   12:00

Girls Individual                                       12:30

Boys Individual Junior/Senior                 1:00

Back to WHS about 5:00pm

"Though surrounded by urban development, McAlpine Creek Greenway is the only greenway (in Charlotte) where you can see river otter, beaver, and mink all in one general area. Also protected at this greenway is Mecklenburg County's only population of a native Larkspur (Delphinium tricorne), a very rare, purple, showy, spring ephemeral wildflower.
188 species of birds have been documented along McAlpine Creek Greenway, the second highest site total in Mecklenburg County." according to Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation.  

I like their Greenway map too.  Maybe an ambitious walker-spectator could park at the one of the more distant parking areas.

Last Saturday's meet
It was interesting to read the reporting on last Saturday's meet from Spring Valley High School (Columbia, NC).  Watauga has stomped everyone at our home meets in recent years.  "This is our first ever win at this invitational and our first win over host Watauga High."  Congratulations!