The Patton High cross country team came out Saturday for its first regular-season meet and flexed some muscle at the Western North Carolina Cross Country Carnival at Jackson Park in Hendersonville, competing against teams from across the region, including county foe Freedom.
Panther freshman Noah Green took fourth place in the Boys Invitational 5K race in just under 17:30, leading the team to a 13th-place finish overall. Austin Winters, Justin Kuhn and Brian Rider also finished in the top 100 for Patton.
The Freedom boys fielded a team with two top-100 finishers and came in 26th in a field of 30 teams and 216 runners. Kevin Reid and D.T. Oliver ran times just over 20:30 for the Patriots.
Patton fielded a team of seven runners in the Girls Invitational 5K, and placed 20th overall, just ahead of Freedom who finished 22nd. Kaitlin Berry, Cassidy Mull and Ellen Schilkowsky finished with the best three times for Patton. Courtney McDaniel, Sarah Eure, and Lacey Leonard paced the Patriots.
Cullen Torbet finished fifth for Freedom in the Boys Open 5K, while Ben Humphries and Chris Reid finished in the top-10 for Patton. The Panthers took sixth place overall in the race.
The Patton girls did not place in the Girls Open, only running with a team of three, but Taylor Prichard finished 44th, Kaitlyn Broadbent 101st, and Eleni Zenteno 117th.
Chapel Hill won both the boys and girls championship 5K, while each T.C. Roberson squad finished in the top three.
Patton coach Carl Schilkowsky said the team came in looking to improve from its previous times, and he was more than happy with their results.
“The girls looked better this time than they did last year,” he said, “and the boys really came out and worked hard today. We wanted to get the team a feel for this course before the regional meet Oct. 30.”
Both Patton and Freedom have young cross country teams. Schilkowsky and Patriots head coach Adam Mazzolini both said their team was primarily made up of sophomores; Freedom has only three seniors.
Both the Patriots and Panthers join Draughn, East Burke and others at the Caldwell County Invitational on Sept. 7 in Lenoir.
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