CHARLOTTE - Rocky Hansen ’23 wore the usual grimace on his face Saturday as he gutted out the last bit of the Champs Sports South Regional.
Underneath the pained expression, the Greenie was already letting his mind drift to San Diego.
Rocky’s undefeated senior season is still very much intact after beating out the best cross country runners from 14 different states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He won comfortably by nine seconds on Saturday, skimming through the McAlpine Creek Park course in 14 minutes, 40.06 seconds.
Rocky is just the fourth North Carolina boy since 1979 to win the Champs Sports South Regional. His time ranks No. 1 all-time among Tar Heel state runners in the event. He is now qualified for the Champs Sports national meet which is Dec. 10 in San Diego.
“I’ve been dreaming about this for a while, even as a freshman and an eighth grader when I was just getting into running and dreaming about the big meets,” Rocky said.
“This is like the grand prize, a holy grail. It’s exciting, but now that (the national meet) is here, the job is never finished.”
McAlpine is known as a flat, fast course with only one real hill. Rocky let a couple runners surge past him on the incline, then overtook them for the final two miles.
He was the prerace favorite and rightfully so. Rocky is a two-time NCISAA 4-A state champion who has run the fastest 5-kilometer race in state history in addition to his four all-time state records from last spring in track - the 1,600-meter run (3:59.27), 1-mile run (4:00.76), 3,200-meter run (8:43.90), and 2-mile (8:46.97).
Rocky has signed with Wake Forest University and Demon Deacons coach John Hayes was among Saturday’s race spectators.
“I just went into this race with a level head. Even though I’ve had some success this season, I just needed to come in with a level head because things don’t always go as planned,” Rocky said.
"So, I came in with a level head and just do what I always do, racing and running hard, and racing smart most of all. I kept something in the tank for San Diego.”
Greenie junior Dawson Reeves placed 33rd in Saturday's meet (15:39.39) to receive a medal. Eyob Gill '24 was 75th in 16:16.11.
In addition to North Carolina, the following states were involved in the South Region - Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The Champs Sports national meet will be streamed live on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.
“It’s exciting. We set goals before the year even started and this was one of the goals. Now we’ve got one more goal,” Christ School coach Randy Ashley said.
“The thing about Rocky is he is so consistent. You combine that with the hard work he has put in, and the results are showing.”