Coach Latter and the Devils had a successful week
The Swain County Maroon Devils cross country team wrapped up the kind of week it’s been waiting many years for.
On Wednesday, both the boys and girls placed 1st among Smoky Mountain Conference teams and 2nd overall at the Swain County Invitational 3-mile at Darnell Farms. The boys were led by senior Russell Bigmeat (7th – 18:03) and four freshmen: Phineas Little (11th – 18:48, top freshman overall), Parker Chatham (12th – 18:52), Ira Smart (20th – 19:56) and Brett Treadway (22nd – 20:06).
It was the first time in many years the boys program had finished first in SMC competition. Smoky Mountain HS won overall with a score of 56, followed by Swain with 72, Hayesville with 83, Franklin 97, Robbinsville 113, Murphy 138 and Nantahala 275.
The girls fared just as well. The back-to-back-to-back finishes of sophomores Shelby Hyatt (6th – 21:37), Madison Travitz (7th – 21:56) and senior Lauren Shell (8th – 21:57, top senior overall) ensured Swain would be able to contend with the top teams present, with the quickly improving Erin Zwick (23rd – 24:18) and Haley Cooper (32nd – 26:20) rounding out the scoring.
“I was just thrilled to see such a young team perform so well at our first home meet,” said head coach Phil Latter. “A lot of those guys and girls have been training well since the summer and I think they’re seeing just how much it’s paying off now.”
The teams returned to action on Saturday, and it’s there that Latter saw Hyatt
take it to the next level. Competing in the 13-team Great Smoky Mountain Invitational at Western Carolina University, Hyatt placed 8th overall in a big personal best of 21:56 for 5K to lead Swain to a 5th place finish and top honors among all 1A schools.
“She ran an incredible, beautiful race,” Latter said. “We were down one runner on the girls’ side [Zwick], and I knew that if we were going to prove our legitimacy we would need girls like Shelby and Madison and Haley to really step up. They all did.”
Travitz was the second Lady Devil home in 22:58, good for 18th place. Lauren Shell ran 23:10 for 21st place, while Haley Cooper recorded a 26:30 for 55th place.
The loss of two runners more significantly affected the boys team (they placed 9th out of 10 complete teams and lost to two inter-conference foes), but some stellar individual performances still stood out. Russell Bigmeat and Parker Chatham went 18:42 and 19:05 to place 28th and 31st, respectively.
Complete results can be found here: http://nc.milesplit.com/meets/146812-gsm-cross-country-festival#.Ui25f8akoaa
