Locklear, Fairmont win team title at Southeastern cross country meet
Oct. 12—LUMBERTON — A third-place finish by Austin Locklear led Fairmont to a win in the team competition at Wednesday's Southeastern Athletic Conference cross country meet at Luther Britt Park in Lumberton.
Locklear finished the race in 20 minutes and 22 seconds, over a minute behind both of the top two finishers; Clinton's Cristian Ortiz won the race in 18:45 and West Bladen's Damon'tre Love was second in 19:04.
"(It was) pretty good," Locklear said. "I've just got to work on getting better and trying to keep up with the other boys."
Five of the top 14 finishers ran for the Golden Tornadoes, giving Fairmont the team win with 39 points. St. Pauls was second with 44, Clinton third with 59 and West Bladen fourth with 82. Red Springs and Midway did not have enough runners to post a team score.
Kyland Strickland was fifth for Fairmont in 21:24, Parker Chavis seventh in 22:11, Daquan Moore 13th in 23:49 and Jaylen Jones 14th in 23:51.
Jordan Cook finished fourth to lead St. Pauls with a time of 20:49. Donel Thomas was eighth at 22:43, Matthew Holloman 10th at 22:52, Jayden Cogdell 11th at 22:45 and Aubrey Cobbs 15th at 23:55.
Zachary Baker led Red Springs with a 20th-place finish at 24:52. Makhi Arthur was 30th in 28:37 and Jordan Peterson 35th in 32:05.
Other Fairmont finishers included Mynkoda Smith, 17th in 24:34, with Roderick Deese 22nd in 25:27 and Jamien Scott 31st in 28:42. St. Pauls finishers also included Brandon Baldwin in 23rd at 25:28 and Quammere Stephens 27th at 26:49.
A big challenge the course presented came in the form of a steep hill at about the halfway point of the race.
"(The course) puts up a challenge because you've got to run up that big hill right there," Locklear said. "It'll get your legs burning. But I always keep fighting and pushing through it."
The SAC conference championship meet will be held next Wednesday at Midway.
"(I'll) practice harder this week, and I'll be ready to try to get second or first next week," Locklear said.
Midway and Clinton dominated the girls race, with four of the top five finishers coming from Midway, and Clinton having four of the top eight. Midway's Hailey Happel won in 24:53, beating Clinton's Hailey Mathis, the runner-up in 26:40.
St. Pauls' Ashley Morris was the highest local finisher in 18th at 32:38.
"It was hard. I just pushed myself through, I guess, that type of thing; tried not to walk much, tried to run the whole thing," Morris said. "The hills were hard. People getting in front of me was a challenge, I wanted to pass people."
Other finishers from St. Pauls included Jashontae Harris in 23rd at 36:55, Z'myrah Alford 23th at 38:00, Zalaya Gardner 25th at 38:05, Ta'Lia Harris and Marcrissa Ivey tied for 26th at 39:26 and Zakoreya Davis and Racheal Locklear tied for 30th at 45:27.
Midway won the team competition with 22 points, Clinton was second with 35 and St. Pauls third with 83; West Bladen did not post a team score, and Fairmont and Red Springs did not participate in the race.
