Elizabethton, HV Groom for Regional Run
By Rick Sheek
KINGSPORT — In the final tune-up before the Region 1-A/AA cross country meet, Elizabethton and Happy Valley got in some quality work on Thursday at Sullivan North.
The Cyclones finished second in the Three Rivers Conference Championships. Elizabethton’s girls were third.
“We had some great runners up there on the board,” Elizabethton coach Aaron Wood said. “Some of them had very good finishes for us.”
The Warriors placed fifth.
“I think they came out good,” Happy Valley coach Matt Estep said of his runners. “It’s been cold, muddy conditions. I think they gave it their best shot.”
Sullivan East captured the boys’ title, 26-57 over the Cyclones. Unicoi (71) was third, North fourth (112) with the Warriors (152) rounding out the standings.
East also grabbed the girls’ crown, 46-52 over Unicoi. Elizabethton totaled 56 points.
Individually in the boys’ race, Coby Atwell paced the Cyclones with a third-place finish. He covered the 3.1-mile course in 18:29.
East’s Dalton Hudlow dominated for the boys’ championship in 17:17. His teammate Garrett Wright crossed second in 17:51.
Happy Valley’s Tyerell Hughes (18:51) placed fourth. Elizabethton’s Stewart Clark (18:53) and Alex Valdez crossed sixth and eighth, respectively.
The girls’ winner was North’s Kasey Williams (22:18). She blew past Unicoi’s Whitney True (22:28) down the stretch.
Abbie Pierce of Elizabethton came in third (23:46).
“Coby ran a great race out there for the guys, and Abby ran great for the girls,” Wood said. “They really pulled us through and finished atop this race for us.”
Also on the girls’ side, Happy Valley’s Kaitlynn Kincer (23:52) was fifth. The Lady Cyclones’ Kayla Lyons (24:10) and Haley Keylon (24:43) were seventh and eighth, respectively.
“We had a couple of real good individual performances in Kaitlynn finishing fifth and then Tyerell finishing fourth,” Estep said. “One’s a freshman and one’s a sophomore, so for the future I think we’ll be pretty good.”
Rounding out the finishing order for Elizabethton’s boys were Dalton Callahan (19st), Nathan May (21st), Kyle Hinson (30th), Dustin Heaton (27th), Justin Grindstaff (28th), Sullivan McInturff (31st), Isiah Oliver (34th) and Joseph Hinson (35th).
The remainder of the Warriors were David Young (33rd), Ozzy Thompson (37th), Shane Parker (38th), Garrett Wood (40th) and Will Rhew (41st).
Completing the Lady Cyclones’ scoring were Summer Reece (18th), Danielle Loving (19th) and Sydney Whitehead (21st).
The Lady Warriors’ other two harriers were Makaiyla Babb (17th) and Alexis Hammons (20th).
The region meet is at Daniel Boone next Thursday.
“We’re just so thankful to be out here having the conference, and we had several step up and perform for us,” Wood said. “We’ve got to make something happen. We’ve got regionals next week.”
