PLEASANT GARDEN – Eyob Gill ’24 had just run the race of his life. All he could think about is how it affected the bigger picture for Christ School cross country.
“I knew my teammates were hurting. I had to hurt with them, too. I had to keep going,” Eyob said.
Indeed, the Greenies hurt together as a team and won in glorious unison Friday at Hagan-Stone Park.
Eyob (seventh place, 15:48.03) was one of four all-state runners for Christ School, which repeated as the NCISAA 4-A state champion with 36 points, 20 better than the 56 points for runner-up Cary Academy.
Rocky Hansen ’23 successfully defended his individual championship from last year as well, becoming a six-time state champ in cross country and track with a time of 14:44.90. Dawson Reeves ’24 confidently flashed two fingers on both hands as he crossed the finish line second in 15:20.30.
Kahzi Sealey ’23 (ninth place, 16:07.40) fell to the ground in exhaustion shortly after the end of his race. Luke Parrish ’24 (20th, 16:40.60), Will Peeler ’23 (21st, 16:44.40), and Dallas Reeves ’27 (23rd, 16:54.70) ran strong as well.
Many teams buckle under the kind of expectations that were placed on the Greenies this season, partly due to the national exposure that Rocky has brought to Christ School. For the Greenies, it was just background noise, starting with their training in August and leading to the moment Friday when they accepted their second consecutive state championship trophy.
Sitting around the hotel lobby Friday after breakfast, Coach Randy Ashley looked into the eyes of each of his runners as he spoke.
“I said, ‘You should feel no pressure doing this,'" Coach Ashley said. "'You should feel strength and power within your soul, within your body to take care of this opportunity you have to compete. (Assistant coaches Mark and Carolyn Lowe-Thompson) and I were all competitors, and we want to be you today, standing on the start line and competing for your school and for yourself.’ The guys really took that to heart today. Across the board, if we don’t run like we did today, then Cary Academy beats us.”
Rocky’s season will continue into November as he eyes qualifying as an individual for national meets. But Friday was the final time he will run cross country in a team setting for Christ School and it was a proper way to go out.
The senior from Hendersonville, N.C., has become a bonafide celebrity amongst his peers. For example, athletes from a school not involved in the 4-A race blasted the theme music to the movie “Rocky” from a portable speaker as Rocky ran by them Friday.
“It was great out there; we came out with the mentality of winning this race and coming in with a level head. We didn’t care about last year’s title, it doesn’t have any influence on this year’s title,” Rocky said.
“The focus was to do it again and I couldn’t be any prouder of the guys with (personal record-times) across the board. We took things day by day, showed up and did our work. We don’t worry about what others say, we just trust each other and we trust coach.”
