CHEROKEE – (Special from Philip Latter)Even as her lungs burned entering the third mile, Shelby Hyatt refused to let off the pace. The junior – and defending conference runner-up – had been diagnosed with pneumonia two weeks ago, and had suffered through bad workouts and missed runs since then. Now, with her team’s hopes on the line, Hyatt stayed on the shoulder of her freshman teammate Emma Pindur and pushed toward the finish. As Pindur and Hyatt crossed the line third and fourth, respectively, it sealed the third consecutive Smoky Mountain Conference title for the Lady Devils cross country team by their narrowest margin in Latter’s three-year tenure.
“That was on the gutsiest races I’ve ever seen in my ten years of coaching,” said head coach Philip Latter. “At our last practice, Shelby and I were discussing breathing exercises and stretches that might help open her lungs, because she was worried she wouldn’t even be able to finish the race it hurt so much. Instead, she set an example that her whole team followed.”
Swain scored 35 points to defeat Robbinsville (42) by 7. Hayesville was third with 73, followed by Murphy’s 90 and Cherokee’s 110.
Behind Pindur (21:28) and Hyatt (21:36), the Lady Devils’ depth was on full display. Freshman Lynsey Hicks placed 9th in a time of 22:05, while junior Madison Travitz (13th – 23:16) and sophomore Kylie Pond (14th – 23:35) rounded out the top five. All five scorers for Swain received either All-Conference or All-Conference Honorable Mention. Junior Serina Holt (21st – 25:07) and sophomore Jenna Crutchfield (26th – 25:31) also competed well for Swain.
“Today was really the story of a whole team coming together and sacrificing for each other,” Latter said. “Madison missed 10 months because of Achilles surgery; Lynsey was out with knee issues for much of the season. At the same time Emma emerged from an unknown freshman coming out of the charter school to one of the top runners in the State, and Kylie has continued to work herself into a top flight runner. Everyone took what they had and rallied around each other. They found a way to keep the trophy at Swain for another year.”
The boys’ team also had a strong showing at the conference meet, placing third for the third consecutive year. Sophomore Parker Chatham placed 4th overall in a time 18:13 to earn All-Conference honors. Behind him senior Sam Dickson ran a lifetime best 19:20 to place 10th overall. Sophomores Brett Treadway placed (12th – 19:37) and Darren Blankenship (18th – 19:49) and junior Rye Hester (21st – 20:00) rounded out the scoring.
Hayesville won the race with 40 points, followed by Robbinsville’s 46 and Swain’s 58. Finishing behind the Maroon Devils were Rosman (129), Hiwassee Dam (139), Murphy (141) and Cherokee (152).
“The boys were pretty bummed about getting third again, but when you really crunch the numbers you see how much they’ve improved in the last year,” Latter said. “Of the four boys who competed here last year that returned this year, they averaged an improvement of 6 places and 67 seconds. That’s phenomenal improvement and points toward even better things next year.”
Latter was particularly pleased with the improvement in his top three runners.
“Parker and Brett were there at every practice this summer, putting in the miles and long runs and workouts just so that something like this could be possible. For Parker to get fourth overall and Brett to move up fourteen places from last year hopefully makes it all seem worth it to them. And Sam was a gift. We thought we’d lost him after last season and then he was cleared to run for us again starting in August. He’s made the most of his senior season, that’s for sure.”
Both teams will return to action on Saturday, October 25, when Swain County hosts the 1A West Region meet on the campus of Asheville Christian Academy in Swannanoa. That meet serves as the qualifier to the NCHSAA 1A State Championship in Kernersville on November 1.