Smoky Mountain Conference Sends Five Schools to State 1-A Cross County Championship Meet

Cherokee and Swain County Leading the West Region – Possibilities for Team and Individual Titles

 

By Brandon Stephens

Photos by Scot McKie B.P. – Cherokee One Feather

 

(Kernersville) – – You better be fast and ready to outlast the best runners in western North Carolina mountains this weekend while they travel and compete in the high school cross country state final meets in Kernersville.  Andrews, Cherokee, Hayesville, Hiwassee Dam, and Swain County have sent runners to the meet.  1-A Men’s Championship meet will begin at 2PM at Ivey M. Redmon Sports Complex.  The Women’s Championship Meet will take place at 3:20PM.

Cherokee and Swain County have the possibility to win as a team as well as taking individual honors as they will send the largest number of runners among Smoky Mountain Conference (SMC) schools.  The Braves and Maroon Devils are sending the largest number of their fall runners.  Cherokee is sending two women and seven men.  Swain will field seven women and seven men.  Twenty-seven runners qualified for the state from SMC schools at the recent western regional meet, which was held in Cherokee at the Kituwah Fields a few weeks ago.  That is about 10 percent of the 264 runners who will take a competitor’s number in the 1-A classification.

Cherokee’s Dvdaya Swimmer

Cherokee Braves placed some of the fastest runners in the Western Regional meet.  Cherokee took the Western Regional Championship as a team for Men’s competition and Swain County took the regional honors as a team for the Women’s division.  Individually, Cherokee’s Freshman Dvdaya Swimmer, who won the Women’s meet individually at 18:52.88.  Swain County’s Amaya Hicks and Annie Lewis finished the regional meet in fourth and fifth place.  While Andrews’ Freshman O’Malley Salinas took the first-place finish in the men’s division at 16:30.34, he was closely paced by Cherokee Senior Jaylan Bark finishing second at 16:39.89.  Cherokee Freshman Tyce Hogner took fourth place.

Swain’s Amaya Hicks                                Cherokee’s Jaylan Bark

Schools, Runners, Division

Andrews – O’Malley Salinas (Freshman) – Men

Cherokee

1. Letsi Burgos (Junior) – Women
2. Dvdaya Swimmer (Freshman) – Women
3. Jaylen Bark (Senior) – Men
4. Aizen Bell (Junior) – Men
5. Tanin Esquivel (Senior) – Men
6. Tanis Esquivel (Senior) – Men
7. Tyce Hogner (Freshman) – Men
8. Oztin Swayney (Senior) – Men
9. Ayden Thompson (Senior) – Men

Hayesville

1. Cannon Brewer (Sophomore) – Men
2. Landon Hughes (Junior) – Men

Hiwassee Dam – Ethan Russell (Sophomore) – Men

Swain County

1. Lilah Foster (Sophomore) – Women
2. Sienna Hackshaw (Sophomore) – Women
3. Marden Harvey (Freshman) – Women
4. Amaya Hicks (Senior) – Women
5. Annie Lewis (Freshman) – Women
6. Angelina Lomelli (Freshman) – Women
7. Gracie Monteith (Senior) – Women
8. Carl Baird (Freshman) – Men
9. Nathan Brown (Freshman) – Men
10. Kane Jones (Junior) – Men
11. Connor Lambert (Junior) – Men
12. Abhi Patel (Freshman) – Men
13. Jackson Pittard (Senior) – Men
14. Corey Wolf (Junior) – Men

Stay Connected with Team FYN Sports for results and coverage of the Women and Men’s 1-A State Cross Country Championship.