KERNERSVILLE — It may have been cold at this year’s cross country state championships, but Chatham County runners provided their own fire.
The NCHSAA wrapped up its unprecedented 2020-21 cross country season last weekend during a chilly two-day championship event at Ivey M. Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville, which featured four Chatham schools represented by 15 athletes.
After a successful batch of regional meets that catapulted Chatham Charter, Jordan-Matthews, Northwood and Woods Charter to the biggest stage, each program strove to make the most of the opportunity.
Most notably, three individual runners — Woods Charter freshman Ellie Poitras, Chatham Charter junior Brandon McKoy and Northwood junior Caroline Murrell — earned all-state honors by finishing in the top 10 of their respective classifications.
The Northwood men’s team, in its fourth consecutive 3A state meet appearance, finished eighth for the second straight year. The Woods Charter women's team, in its first 1A state meet since 2015, finished sixth.
In the early session on Saturday, Northwood’s duo of junior Colin Henry (27th place, 16:53.99) and senior Malachi Levy (33rd place, 17:07.67) led the team to its eighth-place finish (204 points, 1:28:03.52 total time).
After the two of them finished the first heat at eighth and ninth, respectively, the second heat “blew it open,” Northwood head coach Cameron Isenhour said. That pushed Henry and Levy's times outside the top 25.
Levy, who is the only Charger that has qualified for the state meet each of the last four years, has acted as one of the team’s primary leaders during his time at Northwood.
“He’s meant everything," Isenhour said. "He’s been our captain. He’s been our leader. He’s usually in the front. He’s just a kind-hearted person, but you wouldn’t know by the way he races because he runs mad, I like to say. We’re definitely going to miss him.”
In the women’s 3A championship, Northwood junior Caroline Murrell, racing individually for the second year in a row, finished in 10th place with a time of 19:09.39 and became the first Charger in seven years to earn all-state honors.
“I call her Mighty Murrell because she’s as tough as nails," Isenhour said. "She’s the best distance girl I’ve ever coached. She has the mentality that she’s going to do the best she can, and she’s not afraid of being uncomfortable in a race.”
Despite the abnormality of the season, which featured atypical cross country temperatures and weather, at-home workout programs and a plethora of coronavirus-related guidelines and protocols, runners across the county seemed pleased with the way it all turned out.
“It’s been a little bit chaotic compared to all of the other seasons that I’ve had during my high school career,” Chatham Charter’s McKoy said. “It really has shown me the mental aspect that I need to keep a positive attitude because keeping a negative attitude isn’t helping anyone.”
Saturday was McKoy’s third consecutive 1A state meet in Kernersville. The previous two seasons, he had top 10 finishes in the 1A mideast regional meets — including a runner-up performance in 2019 — with times well under 18 minutes.
But he continuously found himself underperforming at the state championships: finishing 37th in 2018 and 41st in 2019, unable to crack the 18:19 mark.
In the final moments of Saturday's race, McKoy sprinted past Research Triangle’s Liam Johnston — a runner he’s battled in the Central Tar Heel 1A Conference all season — to solidify the sixth spot in the second heat. It was good for eighth overall, with a time of 17:40.42. He bested Johnston by just 0.05 seconds.
His past struggles are what makes Saturday’s successes much sweeter for McKoy and his head coach, Gary Oakley.
“We don’t want to talk about last year too much, but we were all disappointed, so I just kept my expectations low, but my goals high,” Oakley said. “I’m so excited for him. It’s almost a weight off of our shoulders because he really deserved to have a good race. He’s been so consistent and works so hard, so he deserved this today.”
Later in the day, Woods Charter freshman Ellie Poitras (fourth place, 20:16.03) had a shot at a state title after winning the first heat by a narrow margin. ntering the final 100 meters, Poitras turned on the jets, just passing Emily Myers of Frankin Academy to finish first. In the second heat, however, three runners bested Poitras’ time, bumping her to fourth overall.
Poitras became the only freshman runner of the weekend to finish in fourth place or higher, a major accomplishment for the star of a youthful Woods Charter program.
“During the race, I just kept telling myself little things like ‘You got this’ and just kept pushing myself to go harder,” Poitras said. “I knew people were watching me from all over.”
As a team, the Wolves finished the day in sixth place (162 points, 1:54:58.28 total time), led by Poitras, sophomore Maddie Sparrow (24th place, 21:43.95) and senior Ember Penney (46th place, 23:59.30).
With a head coach in her first year at Woods Charter, Karen Hawkins, and a roster with years of eligibility left, Poitras said they haven’t yet hit their ceiling.
“I think we all just push each other greatly, and our coach always tells us that we have so much more potential we haven’t tapped into yet,” Poitras said. “We have so much more to go.”
Jordan-Matthews senior Robert Train, the only individual to qualify from the Jets programs, raced in the 2A men’s state meet on Friday afternoon and finished in 81st place with a time of 19:58.52.
Despite being disappointed in the results, he took solace in the fact that he’s had a great ride these last three years.
“My teammates have always been great and supportive,” Train said. “Today aside, I was happy this year. This wasn’t how I wanted to end the year, but that’s on me. And that’s fine. I’ll move on and just keep running.”