Apex boys, Green Hope girls keep Southwest Wake cross country title streaks

Green Hope’s girls, winners of six straight N.C. High School Athletic Association 4A cross country championships, had an even longer streak to maintain Wednesday at WakeMed Park.

The Falcons picked up their eighth straight conference title in dominant fashion, placing five runners among the top seven – nine of the top 14 – to walk away with the Southwest Wake Athletic Conference title.

Green Hope was led by defending state champion Elly Henes (18 minutes, 5.47 seconds), who won her second conference title.

In the boys’ race, Apex won a close competition against Green Hope, edging the Falcons 41-57 to take home its third straight league title. Middle Creek’s Jack Cawley (15:30.87) came away with the top individual honors.

Girls’ race

Green Hope had runners take first (Henes), third (Morgan Adams), fifth (Sarah Taylor), sixth (Alessandra Rodriguez), seventh (Katie Tomasi) and 10th (Shannon Kelly).

For good measure, the Falcons also had runners at 12th, 13th, 14th, 16th and 17th.

The conference title is the first in a three-week, three-event end to the season culmulating in the ultimate prize: a state championship.

“Workouts have been going well, so as long as we can channel it into the races, we’ll be good,” Henes said.

She said she has been injured with her right shin but finally is recovering.

“It’s looking about where I want it to,” Henes said. “I’m doing the best that I can at this point in the season.”

Panther Creek’s Bridgette Sullivan (18:27.47) was second, and Apex’s Allison Rosen (fourth, 18:58.93) and Calli Parlier (eighth, 19:14.61) and Holly Springs’ Caitlyn Morton (ninth, 19:15.25) also were among the top 10.

Apex’s Megan O’Donnell was voted coach of the year.

Boys’ race

Cawley, Middle Creek’s first individual cross country SWAC champ, was almost 11 seconds ahead of the next-best runner, a sign of the senior’s improvement since last year.

“It was just a lot of consistent training and confidence in myself. Like today, Matt (Thornton) from Cary, he made a big move at the top of the hill and it felt really good to respond to it and have confidence in yourself to match that move and still have something at the end,” Cawley said. “We were together for another 800 meters and I sort of broke away from him. I really didn’t know where anybody was. I didn’t want to look back and see them right on me, so I just kept going.”

Apex runners Ben Savino (15:41.85) and Derek Duin (15:49.95) were second and third, respectively, and David Cart (16:17.22) and Lawson Benfield (16:17.43) were eighth and ninth.

Green Hope was able to push for the title, despite its top runner finishing seventh (Peyton Barish, 16:16.22).

Other Falcons finished 10th (Nick Veilleuz), 12th (Daniel Vo), 13th (Brian Huitt), 15th (Ian Delgado), 16th (Cole Hagstrom) and 17th (Michael Dudash).

But Apex clinched the title with 20th-place runner Andrew Bowland.

Cary’s Matthew Thornton (fourth, 15:56.89), Panther Creek’s Alec Carlson (fifth, 16:10.40) and Holly Springs’ Gavin Kinkead (sixth, 16:11.29) also finished with top-10 showings.

Green Hope’s Roger Collins was voted coach of the year.

This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 8:50 PM with the headline "Apex boys, Green Hope girls keep Southwest Wake cross country title streaks."