Boys’ Cross Country claims State Runner-Up; Girls place 3rd

Saturday was a historic day for the Darlington cross country program, as both the boys and the girls reached the podium (top-4) for the first time since 2002. None of the current coaching staff—Head Coach Alan Parish and assistants Kelly McDurmon and Katie Ellis—were employed at Darlington at that time.

It took years of hard work for the boys’ team to place 2nd; as they moved up from 16th in 2007, to 9th in 2008, to 7th in 2009 and 2010, and then last year’s 6th place.

The girls are making the podium a tradition, as they placed top-4 for the fourth time in five years (4th in 2008, State Champions in 2010, and 4th in 2011). It was a spectacular way to end a successful season: earlier this year the boys won their 4th straight Rome Area Championship and the girls won the Region Championship for the 7th year in a row.

The boys had a top-5 average of 17:36 at State, which is the best in the 51-year history the program. They exceeded the 17:38 average of the 1992 team. The girls’ top-5 average was 21:21, which is the 5th best in the history of the school. Three of the girls’ teams that had better averages won the State Championship and the fourth was the 2011 4th-place team.

The boys were led by junior Avery Cypress’ 15th place finish. Avery's 17:08 for 5K (a personal record) ranks him as the 4th-best boy in Darlington history using State performances. Only Matt Lucarelli ('95, 16:27), Jackson Miranda ('92, 16:40), and Frank Stegall ('98, 16:57) ran faster at State.

The boys deep and strong pack is what led them to such drastic improvement from last year. The difference between their top runner and seventh runner was only 1 minute and 16 seconds, far better than every other team in the field. Finishing second for the Tigers was the lone senior Alex Cox (17:24, 23rd). Sophomore Spencer Fields was only a few seconds behind (17:29, 25th).

Darlington’s male runner of the week was awarded to Sophomore Chris Edwards, who ran a personal record time of 17:55 (39th place). He broke 18 minutes for 5K for the first time. Rounding out the top-5 scoring was junior Andrew Hudson (18:02, 43rd). The final two runners competing for Darlington at State were freshman Jared Deaton (18:10, 50th) and junior Coulter Schrum (18:24, 56th), who tied his PR.

The girls were led by sophomore Kinslee Clevenger’s 10th place All-State performance (20:25). Fellow sophomore Lauren Hooper was second for the Lady Tigers, breaking into the top 20 with a 20:59 (19th).

Junior Anna Cantrell was Darlington’s female runner of the week for her 2012 PR of 21:21. She placed 23rd and bettered her time from the same course 5 weeks ago by almost one minute. Her sister, freshman Abby Cantrell, ran a PR as well (21:54, 34th). Junior Bethany Cagle wrapped up the scoring for the girls in 38th (22:05). Junior Callee Manna (72nd, 23:37) and senior Remy Jennings (82nd, 23:52) were the final two participants for Darlington.

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