Each time, a Northwood runner emerged all alone in first place, as the Chargers took first place in both races and in the team competition Monday afternoon.
The top finishers for the Vikings were senior Brandon DiBianca (19:49), who finished third in the boys’ race and sophomore Ashley Wahl (23:04), who took second for the girls.
Northwood’s Taylor Adams (17:32) and Jacobi Eaves (19:22) took the top two spots, as the Chargers took first in the team results with 19 points to 45 for the Vikings.
Tessa Dispenette (22:20) took first in the girls’ race with the Chargers scoring 22 points to 34 for the Vikings. Dominique Andrews (25:37), an all-conference runner last year for the Vikings, finished fourth. Lee County did not have a runner place in either race.
On a warm, muggy and buggy afternoon, the 3.1-mile race began below the dam. The runners took a right turn into the woods before emerging into the open and disappearing again along the heavily wooded trail that encircles the lake.
DiBianca, the leading returnee from a Viking squad that finished first as a team in the 2002 Tri-County conference championship meet, said that he expected to win the race.
“I’ve been hyped about this for a long time,” he said. “We’ve been training hard and I’m just ready to do it. I didn’t know there were going to be two guys ahead of me. I thought I was going to win. They surprised me.”
Among those missing from the Union Pines boys team that also finished fourth in last year’s 3-A Midwest Regional and qualified for the state meet were the graduated Clint Rogers, Joey Frye and Russell Papineau.
Finishing in the top 25 Tuesday for the Vikings were Tyson Sietz, eighth (20:52), Matt Dunlap, ninth (21:01), Joseph Daley, 12th (21:13), Josh Grimsley, 15th (21:33), Scott DiMaio, 19th (22:23), Michael Tem, 22nd (22:41) and David Walsh, 24th (22:49).
Wahl, a junior, and a two-year member of the Viking girls’ soccer team, was running in her first cross country event. She finished more than a minute ahead of third-place Kate Miller of Northwood.
“My goal was to get with one of the fastest ones and try to stay with them,” she said. “I really didn’t know what to expect. I was pretty pleased.”
After Wahl and Andrews for the Vikings came another newcomer, Lauren Huff, eighth (26:22) and freshmen, Anna Maria Quiros, ninth (26:24) and Sarah Brown, 11th (26:52).
“I was real impressed with the way the girls ran for the first time,” Union Pines coach Nat Carter said. “We have so many new girls this year, but they are going to be okay. We have some spots to feel on the boys team after losing Rogers, Frye and Papineau.”
Northwood returns many of its runners from a squad that finished fourth (girls) and seventh (boys) in the last year’s 2-A state meet. Next Monday, the Vikings travel to Pittsboro to face the Chargers again in a meet scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m.
