Bryson City
At some point this afternoon Blair Allman, Lauren Shell, Tori Swartz, Erin Zwick, Autumn Demonet, Summer Hight and Abbe Kirby will make a run at the history books. Those members of the Lady Devil cross country team will run the race of their lives. A race for the first ever conference championship for Swain High School in women’s cross country.
Women’s cross country at Swain has had the normal ebb and flow of other sports. Years where there were not enough runners to score as a team, then years where we were good, just not good enough to hang with conference powers Hayesville, Robbinsville, and Murphy. Years where we have had one to two good runners, but not enough dept to score well as a team.
But this year, well this year is different. While no Lady Devil runner has finished first in any race this year, the team has racked up solid finish after solid finish, which includes a series of impressive second place finishes. And along the way the Lady Devils took, what is believed to be, their first ever first place finish.
Now, they stand on the brink of history. One race away from the unthinkable, a Smoky Mountain Conference Championship. What a way to punctuate your second, ever, first place finish.