PITTSBORO — As Sydney Cox looped back onto the track at Northwood High School, her legs burning from a nearly completed three-mile run, she had one thing on her mind.
“I had to push through,” the sophomore cross country runner said.
Energized by some final yells of encouragement from her father, Randy, in the bleachers, that’s exactly what Cox did. Running in her first career meet for the Chargers, Cox led from start to finish and used a final burst to set a new personal-record time (22:35.08) in the women’s 5K on Monday afternoon.
Her first-place finish was one of many highlights at the Chatham County Cross Country Championships, a non-conference meet that pitted Northwood against Jordan-Matthews. (Woods Charter was scheduled to participate but canceled last week as a safety precaution after coronavirus complications.)
The Chargers won both events handily on their home turf, logging six of the top seven times in the men’s 5K and all six of the top times in the women’s 5K against the Jets. Despite the relatively uneventful final scores, both schools’ coaches found positives to glean from the in-county matchup.
“I think, all in all, it was a great meet and great atmosphere,” J-M co-head coach Tyrone Hanner said.
On the Northwood side, head coach Cameron Isenhour leaned on youth. Since the NCHSAA’s COVID-19 guidelines limit schools to 14 runners each in a head-to-head meet, Isenhour sat out some of his top men’s and women’s finishers from last Wednesday’s season opener and opted for JV prospects.
Make no mistake: the Northwood varsity runners who did participate led the pack. Senior Carter Pippin logged a comfortable 19:12.38 first-place finish, and sophomore Jackson Adams and junior Andrew Kimbrel finished third and fourth, respectively. But Isenhour was just as excited for his rookies.
“We had a bunch of newcomers and a bunch of PRs,” he said.
The lone Jordan-Matthews runner among the men’s top 10 was Robert Train, a senior who finished second behind Pippin with a final time of 19:17.00. Train hopes to drop his time to the 18-minute mark by season’s end, he said, but he couldn’t complain about a runner-up finish in his season opener — especially after so many months of waiting and uncertainty thanks to COVID-19.
“It feels a little better than just running to run,” he said.
Hanner, who coaches the Jets with Michael Milian, credited Train as a runner who “came back stronger than he was last year” and dedicated himself to offseason workouts. His performance was a plus, the coach said, as were those of sophomore America Cuanalo and junior Jasmine Basilio, who finished seventh and eighth, respectively, in the women’s 5K.
The Jets were also missing their top men’s runner and three of their top five women’s runners at Monday’s meet, Hanner said. That gives him confidence for future PAC7 2A conference meets.
“We had a few shortfalls,” Hanner said. “But, of course, Northwood is strong. I’m proud of the job they’re doing for cross country in the Chatham County area.”
In the women’s 5K, that took the form of a clean sweep, as Northwood placed in all six scoring positions. Sophomore Sarah Barbour placed third, senior Liv Riggsbee placed second and Cox, the sophomore running in her first ever meet, placed first — with an admitted assist from the sidelines.
“I really look up to my dad,” she said. “I could hear him in the stands cheering me on, so right when I hit the track, I had to go for it. I just sprinted my heart out."
Reporter Chapel Fowler can be reached at cfowler@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @chapelfowler.
Final results
Event 1 Girls 5k Run CC
=======================================================================
Name Year School Finals Points
=======================================================================
1 Cox, Sydney 10 Northwood 22:35.08 1
2 Riggsbee, Liv 12 Northwood 23:53.27 2
3 Barbour, Sarah 10 Northwood 24:54.13 3
4 Case, Dacia 10 Northwood 26:37.00 4
5 Clouse, Marissa 9 Northwood 27:02.87 5
6 Sissoko, Rokia 9 Northwood 27:37.60 6
7 Cuanalo, America 10 Jordan-Matthews 27:39.03 7
8 Basilio, Jasmine 11 Jordan-Matthews 27:42.60 8
9 Blank, Lillie 10 Northwood 28:36.59 9
10 Hirscyman, Hailey 10 Northwood 29:09.71
11 Cremeans, Elizbaeth 12 Northwood 30:11.33
12 Rivera, Damisela 9 Jordan-Matthews 32:59.98 10
13 Lopez, Ashley 11 Jordan-Matthews 34:22.94 11
14 Oyan, Kennedy 11 Northwood 36:04.62
15 Delasancha, Daniela 9 Jordan-Matthews 40:58.00 12
16 Cavariega, Litzy 11 Jordan-Matthews 42:47.46 13
17 Eubanks, Madalin 11 Jordan-Matthews 52:10.16 14
18 Conklin, Noelle 9 Northwood 56:04.39
Team Scores
=================================================================================
Rank Team Total 1 2 3 4 5 *6 *7 *8 *9
=================================================================================
1 Northwood 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 9
Total Time: 2:05:02.35
Average: 25:00.47
2 Jordan-Matthews 48 7 8 10 11 12 13 14
Total Time: 2:43:42.55
Average: 32:44.51
Event 2 Boys 5k Run CC
=======================================================================
Name Year School Finals Points
=======================================================================
1 Pippin, Carter 12 Northwood 19:12.38 1
2 Train, Robert 12 Jordan-Matthews 19:17.00 2
3 Adams, Jackson 10 Northwood 19:23.69 3
4 Kimbrel, Andrew 11 Northwood 19:38.15 4
5 Sullivan, Mathhew 10 Northwood 19:45.19 5
6 Becker, Ethan 9 Northwood 21:18.85 6
7 Erman, Mason 11 Northwood 21:41.91 7
8 Hartman, Jacob 11 Northwood 21:57.31 8
9 Parker, Drew 9 Northwood 22:12.32
10 Cibulski, Felix 9 Northwood 22:12.98
11 Harrison, Aiden 9 Jordan-Matthews 22:22.13 9
12 Mendlovitz, Harry 9 Northwood 22:59.51
13 Conroy, Shane 12 Jordan-Matthews 22:59.78 10
14 Korpela, Toren 11 Jordan-Matthews 23:01.63 11
15 Butalia, Nihal 11 Northwood 23:36.24
16 Fritsche, Will 9 Northwood 23:54.39
17 Ukochovwera, Bradsen 9 Northwood 23:58.64
18 Conroy, Calvin 9 Jordan-Matthews 25:31.64 12
19 Millard, Charles 10 Northwood 25:33.11
20 Martinez, Felix 9 Jordan-Matthews 25:45.69 13
Team Scores
=================================================================================
Rank Team Total 1 2 3 4 5 *6 *7 *8 *9
=================================================================================
1 Northwood 19 1 3 4 5 6 7 8
Total Time: 1:39:18.26
Average: 19:51.66
2 Jordan-Matthews 44 2 9 10 11 12 13
Total Time: 1:53:12.18
Average: 22:38.44