SWANNANOA – Dawson Reeves ’24 had some intent in his eyes Wednesday, surging into the lead from the very beginning of the Carolinas Athletic Association Championship cross country meet.
Dawson won the conference meet four years ago as a freshman and never gave anyone else a chance as a senior.
He flew through Asheville Christian Academy’s grass and wooded trails in a brisk 15:06.90, which was nearly a course record and probably would have been had there been any competition.
A Christ School boy has now won the CAA individual championship seven years in a row and the Greenies (25 points) three-peated as the team champions with Asheville School (78) and ACA (78) battling it out for second place.
Eyob Gill ’24 (second place, 15:49.00), Luke Parrish ’24 (sixth, 16:55.80), and Dallas Reeves ’27 (seventh, 16:55.80) made the all-conference team as well, with Patrick Wang ’24 (ninth, 17:25.30) cracking the top-10 as Christ School’s final scoring runner.
“I felt amazing. It’s kinda hard when you have to run by yourself, but with my coach (Randy Ashley) and his training, it’s finally starting to set in,” Dawson said.
“I’ve had some iffy races, but I feel like these next couple races are going to do well. All my teammates are doing amazing. Eyob has really stepped up this year, I’m really happy for him, he’s getting closer to that 15:30 barrier. Really with everyone, we’re just working towards a state championship. If we can get that threepeat, it’s just going to be amazing.”
Yes, about that. The Greenies are now eight days away from the NCISAA 4-A state meet, which they have won the past two years and it being held this season on one of North Carolina’s flattest courses – the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary.
“I’m feeling great about our team,” Dawson said.
“I feel like if we lock in, listen to our coach, get good sleep and eat right, we’re going to come away with another state championship.”
Coach Ashley is cautiously optimistic about next week.
“The boys ran fairly well today. Dawson ran really well, and Eyob ran really well,” Coach Ashley said.
“We’ve had a great run as squad, with four of our top-five guys today who are seniors. But we base everything off of effort and did you run as hard as you can. I had a couple guys come up to me and say they felt like they could have run harder, which isn’t something a coach wants to hear. We’ll do some hand-wringing this next week and a half and try to get everyone ready to step up (at the state meet).”
Carolinas Athletic Association Championship Meet
Wednesday at Asheville Christian Academy
Team scores
1. Christ School 25; 2. Asheville School 78; 3. Asheville Christian Academy 78; 4. Rabun Gap 79; 5. Carolina Day 86.
Individual results (Christ School runners)
1. Dawson Reeves 15:06.90; 2. Eyob Gill 15:49.00; 6. Luke Parrish 16:55.80; 7. Dallas Reeves 16:55.80; 9. Patrick Wang 17:25.30; 14. William Hughes 18:09.30; 38. Brendan Selsmenberger 21:14.40; 39. Hunter Thomas 21:24.00; 42. Noah Hunt 21:49.90; 43. Lansing Lewis 21:54.00; 62. Bill Zhou 30:34.30.