CARY - Unseasonably hot weather and a half-hour delay were bad omens.
Even in ideal circumstances though, Christ School cross country had no margin for error at Friday’s NCISAA 4-A state meet.
The Greenies (91 points) fell short by just five points of a state championship three-peat, placing third behind team winner Charlotte Providence Day (87) and runner-up Charlotte Country Day (90).
Dawson Reeves ’24 (second place, 15:36.70) shared the individual lead early on with North Raleigh Christian Academy’s Tyler Surface (15:21.90) but could not maintain contact. Still, it was impressively the fourth consecutive year in which Dawson has made the all-state team, which is a first for Christ School cross country.
Eyob Gill ’24 ran a personal record of 15:46.80 on the WakeMed Soccer Park course to come in third place. Patrick Wang also turned in an admirable effort (21st place, 17:00.00), but the Greenies struggled to get their fourth and fifth runners in. Five runners count towards a team's score in cross country, with the sixth and seventh runners used as potential tiebreakers.
Friday’s race was delayed 30 minutes as temperatures in the mid-80s brought in EMS personnel to treat overheated runners from earlier races.
“PD ran as a really tight pack, so did Country Day. We were spread out a little too far,” Christ School coach Randy Ashley said.
“I applaud everyone’s effort. But I like to talk about every point counts and you could see that today. Eyob ran really well. We had a mission for him to beat some of the guys who came in ranked higher than him and he didn’t even give them chance. Dawson did the best he could. (Surface) has broken 15 twice this year and this is pretty much his home course."
NCISAA 4-A Championship Meet
Friday at WakeMed Soccer Park, Cary
Team scores
1. Charlotte Providence Day 87; 2. Charlotte Country Day 90; 3. Christ School 91; 4. Covenant Day 105; 5. Cary Academy 109; 6. Metrolina Christian Academy 178; 7. Durham Academy 186; 8. Charlotte Latin 227; 9. Ravenscroft 259; 10. Cannon School 178; 11. Charlotte Christian 299; 12. Rabun Gap 300; 13. Carmel Christian 313; 14. Wesleyan Christian Academy 367; 15. North Raleigh Christian Academy 390.
Individual results (Christ School runners)
2. Dawson Reeves 15:36.70; 2. Eyob Gill 15:46.80; 21. Patrick Wang 17:00.00; 31. Dallas Reeves 17:30.20; 34. Luke Parrish 17:34.30; 60. William Hughes 18:24.30; 74. Nate Wilberding 19:00.60.