HENDERSONVILLE, WNC – Swain County’s girls cross country team opened their season on Saturday with a surprising 12th place finish in the Girls Invitational race at the Western North Carolina Cross Country Carnival in Hendersonville. Swain was the highest finishing Smokey Mountain Conference team in the race, defeating rivals Cherokee (13th) and Hayesville (18th) in the 25-team field.
Junior Lauren Shell paced the team with a time of 23:27 on the hilly course at Jackson Park, good enough for 41st place. Senior Blair Allman finished close behind in a time of 23:36 (45th place). Senior Autumn Demonet (25:15 – 85th place), sophomore Erin Zwick (25:24 – 89th place), and junior Tori Swartz (25:59 – 104th place) rounded out the scoring members for Swain. Senior Abby Kirby (29:17) and sophomore Summer Hight (29:20) also competed for the Maroon Devils.
The Western North Carolina Cross Country Carnival is the largest cross country carnival in the western part of North Carolina. This year 48 teams from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee attended, including perennial powerhouses Watauga, T.C. Roberson, Chapel Hill, and Morristown-Hamblen West (Tenn.).
Full results can be found at: http://nc.milesplit.com/meets/121009-wnc-cross-country-carnival