HAYESVILLE – When Carney Classic meet director Jim Saltz announced the girl team scores, he paused as he reached the top two finishers. Only one point separated the top two teams. Then, to much screaming and cheering from the girls in maroon, he announced, “It looks like there will a new champion this year.” Final score: Swain 53, Smoky Mountain 54.
“You’d have thought we’d won a state title,” says head coach Phil Latter. “But then again, we’d never even come close to being able to beat Smoky Mountain before, to say nothing of the rest of the field.” That included all the Smoky Mountain Conference schools, plus Smoky Mountain, Tuscola and Franklin.
Just as dramatic was the finish up front, where Shelby Hyatt waited until the final 30 seconds of the race to overtake Smoky Mountain’s Sarah Spiro, one of the top 2A runners in the state. She also ran a personal best. Her finish was a preview of things to come, as number two runner Madison Travitz and number five runner Serina Holt also used huge kicks at the end to wrap up Swain’s victory en route to setting personal bests. Number three runner Lauren Shell ran a solid race for Swain, as did Erin Zwick, who set a season’s best time.
On the boys’ side, Swain placed fourth as Russell Bigmeat (6th) and Parker Chatham (9th) both had huge races for the Maroon Devils. Phineas Little ran well in the third spot, but Swain was unfortunately without their usual fourth and fifth runners. Darren Blankenship and Brett Treadway filled in admirably and helped keep Swain within 10 points of first place.
Both teams return to action next Wednesday at the Smoky Mountain Conference Championship.
Shelby Hyatt earns her medal by upsetting field at Carney Classic