Rather than the standard reveal of a banner or ring presentation, Dr. Sean Jenkins opted for a personal touch in honoring the first state-championship team from his tenure as Head of School.
The Jenkins family hosted Christ School cross country runners and coaches for a party Thursday in Boxwood House.
There was a lot to celebrate, along with the team receiving championship t-shirts.
The Greenies won the program’s first-ever team state championship Oct. 29 in Wilmington, with 40 points separating them from NCISAA 4-A runner-up Durham Academy. Just nine days earlier, the team won the Carolinas Athletic Association championship on its home course with a perfect score (15 points).
Christ School was undefeated in all local meets and never lost to another NCISAA team, regardless of classification.
Rocky Hansen ’23 was the individual NCISAA 4-A state champion and CAA Runner of the Year, both firsts for his career.
Dawson Reeves ’24 and Jackson Burch ’22 came in second and third place, respectively, in the NCISAA 4-A meet to earn all-state recognition as well. And the entire top-seven for the Greenies made the All-CAA team based off their performance at the conference meet – Rocky, Dawson, Jackson, Jack Cross ’22, Eyob Gill ’24, Luke Parrish ’24, Kahzi Sealey ’23, and Matthew Luke ’22.
The rest of the runners for this year’s team were John Barton ’25, Rhodes Feild ’23, A.J. Hesselson ’22, Nate Wilberding ’25, Noah Graham ’23, Campbell Vernon ’23, Nick Crowley ’22, Patrick Wang ’24, Kaleb Belle ’24, Paul Mueller ’23, Kenny Hesselson ’23, Gavin Denton ’26, Jackson Higgins ’25, Vovi Lagutin 23, Daniel Du ’22, Lansing Lewis ’26, Jacob Beatty ’25, Bill Zhou ’24, and Zach Wetzel ’25.
Randy Ashley, Emily Pulsifer and Dr. Spenser Simrill were the team’s coaches.
