High School Playbook Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point - WXII 12

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State Cross Country Finals At Tanglewood

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November 06, 2009
East Wilkes

Crawford, Blankenship, Hurysz & Miller win individual titles.

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NCHSAA CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Team Titles:

4A Mens -- Sanderson

4A Womens -- Green Hope

3A Mens & Womens -- Chapel Hill

2A Mens -- East Lincoln

2A Womens -- Carrboro

1A Mens -- Gray Stone

1A Womens -- Robbinsville

Individual Results of note:

4A Mens -- Patrick Crawford East Forsyth

3A Mens -- Jake Hurysz Eastern Alamance

2A Mens -- Chase Miller Wilkes Central

1A Womens -- Carol Blankenship East Wilkes

Previous Reports:

2009 NCHSAA CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS SLATED FOR SATURDAY AT TANGLEWOOD PARK

CLEMMONS -- The North Carolina High School Athletic Association state championships in cross-country for both men and women will be held at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons on Saturday.

Top runners from across the state qualified from regional competition last week to the state finals in each classification. The eight cross-country championships include one in each of the NCHSAA's four classifications for men and women. The first race of the day will be the 1-A men's championship at 10 am, followed by the 2-A men, 1-A women and 2-A women at thirty-minute intervals. After a break, the program will gear back up at 2 pm with the 3-A men, followed by 4-A men, 3-A women and 4-A women.

Broughton is the two-time defending men's 4-A champion while East Chapel Hill was the 2008 women's team titlist, breaking a string of three straight crowns won by its cross-town rival Chapel Hill, which is now in the 3-A ranks.

In the 3-A classification, T.C. Roberson has won the last five women's state championships while Mooresville has three in a row among the men, but realignment has put them in different classifications for this year.

Charles D. Owen has won four of the last five 2-A men's titles while Hayesville is the defending men's 1-A team champ, and both won their respective regionals last week. On the women's side, Cardinal Gibbons has won the last four 2-A crowns in succession but has moved up to 3-A in the new alignment, while last year Bishop McGuinness captured the 1-A.

Visit Winston-Salem and the Forsyth County Tourism Alliance are among those serving as local sponsors for the cross-country championships. This will be the eighth year in a row the championships have been held at Tanglewood.

Related Story From The Elkin Tribune

By Eric Lusk
Sports Editor
elusk@elkintribune.com

Don’t be surprised to see East Wilkes junior Carol Blankenship move quickly to the front of the pack in Saturday’s 1A state cross country championships.

First, Blankenship is that good. She’s undefeated this season and is projected as one of the favorites to take the gold medal on the 5K course at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons.

But second, she also likes the view from up front. She’d rather put everyone in the rearview mirror early and focus on the open trails ahead.

“I like to get out fast and just run my own race,” Blankenship said. “That’s my strategy.”

It’s been a pretty solid game plan this fall. Blankenship has won all 11 races she’s entered, including taking last Saturday’s 1A Midwest Regional crown by more than a minute. She’s set course records eight times, including breaking the 19-minute mark during a race in Lenoir in early September.

She has her sights set on more than just a gold medal Saturday.

“I’d like to break the record,” she said.

East Wilkes Cross Country

TRIBUNE/Eric Lusk • East Wilkes juniors Carrie Blankenship and Carol Blankenship will run in the state 1A?cross country championships on Saturday. Carol, who is undefeated this season, is one of the favorites. She was third a year ago.

One of the 1A runners who will be trying to chase down the East Wilkes standout Saturday morning shares Blankenship’s last name — and her birthday. Carrie Blankenship also earned a spot in the state field courtesy of an seventh place finish in the regional.

A third Blankenship runner, Candace, placed 24th at regions and just missed joining her two sisters in the season finale. She’ll be cheering them on from the sidelines at Tanglewood for sure.

The three Blankenship girls are triplets and have already shared a gold-medal experience together. The threesome teamed up with then-senior Anna Hayes to win a state championship — and set a new 1A state-meet record — in the 4x800 relay this past track season.

Carol Blankenship has been running the longest of the three, starting to compete in earnest in seventh grade. The other two sisters began dedicating more time to the sport once they reached high school. Carol and Carrie both won a state 4x800 relay title as freshmen, with Hayes and Kelsey Redding, during the 2008 track season.

Carrie calls Carol her rabbit — a running term for pace-setter — in each meet. Candace then tries to keep pace with Carrie, forming a Blankenship train that has helped East Wilkes’ girls cross country team become one of the best in the Mountain Valley 1A/2A Conference this season.

It’s a friendly family rivalry, but an intense one as well.

“My goal is to beat her once in my life,” Carrie says.

“It’s not going to happen, though,” Carol shoots back, a sly smile on her face.

Link: For More Of This Story

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