High school cross country: South boys, Carson girls win again
Published 11:34 pm Thursday, October 6, 2022
The boys cross country runners take off shortly after the start of the race with winner Eli Julian (157) in front. Second place finisher, James Anderson 141, Ethan Wilson 168 was 5th, Bricen Burleson 159 was 8th. photo by Wayne Hinshaw for the Salisbury Post
Start of the girls race. with West Rowan's Makayla Borst #177 taking the lead. She was the race winner., Katie Roberts 201 finished 2nd. Emily Landaverda 179 finished 3rd. Sadie Featherstone 172 finished 4th, Madison Beaver 193 finished 5th. Blythe Elliott 194 finished 6th., photo by Wayne Hinshaw, for the Salisbury Post
West Rowan's Makayla Borst, finished in 1st place. photo by Wayne Hinshaw, for the Salisbury Post
South Rowan's, Eli Julian, first place in time of 16:27.68 ., hoto by Wayne Hinshaw for the Salisbury Post
Staff report
SALISBURY — It was business as usual for Rowan County cross country on Thursday despite a newly configured course at Dan Nicholas Park.
Carson’s girls won again, maintaining and extending a very strong run under coach Les-Lee Efird. The Cougars, who had a score of 43, have won four straight county championships and seven in the last nine years. They were second the two years in that stretch when they didn’t win it.
South Rowan (52), West Rowan (53) and East Rowan (65) provided the competition.
South Rowan’s boys made it five straight county championships with a 1-4-6-7-8 effort, and Raider runners also placed 11th and 13th for coach Tyler Downs.
South (26) topped Carson (36). Rounding out the team scoring were West (96), East (98) and Salisbury (129).
Individually, Carson senior Makayla Borst returned to the top. She came in second in a close race in 2020 behind teammate Camden Corley. Salisbury’s Sutton Webb breezed to victory in 2021.
Borst clocked 21:06, about 15 seconds faster than her 2020 time.
The other scorers for the Carson girls were Emily Landaverde (3rd, 21:26), Julia Burleson (11th), Mackenzie Todd (13th) and Hayley Borst (15th).
West sophomore Katie Roberts was second in 21:17.
Sadie Featherstone (22:25) was fourth to lead East. Madison Beaver (22:52) placed fifth to lead South.
On the boys side, South junior Eli Julian clocked 16:27, one second faster than his winning time in 2021.
His two county titles have come right behind the three straight individual championships by his brother Noah.
South’s other scorers were Brian Hickman (4th, 17:43), Grayson Cromer (6th, 18:03), Aaron Jones (7th, 18:04) and Bricen Burleson (8th, 18:04). South’s sixth and seventh men Mateo Diaz Ruiz (11th) and soccer standout Grayson Steedley (13th) helped the Raiders by finishing in front of a lot of runners.
Runner-up was Carson’s James Anderson (17:33), with teammate Jorge Clemente-Garcia (17:36) placing third.
Ethan Wilson (5th, 18:00) led West runners.
Seth Drake (12th, 19:34) was the top runner for East.
Salisbury soccer standout Abdul Eliwa was 18th to lead the Hornets.
Jayvee winners were Carson’s Gabe Flaminio (20:59) and Lainey Barger (30:44).
See photo gallery of the events here https://www.salisburypost.com/2022/10/06/photo-gallery-rowan-county-cross-country-meet-at-dan-nicholas-park/
More on the cross country championships will be in Sunday’s Post.
