Black Knights senior qualifies for state meet
Bryson City – Hayden Stewart is making the most out of his senior year.
Not only is he the only member of the Robbinsville cross country team that is on the fast track to graduation, Stewart was the lone runner to emerge from the pack and qualify for the 1A state meet, following his 11th-place finish at the 1A Western Regional Meet on Saturday.
“I was in the 17s, which I was really pleased about,” Stewart said. “That ended up being about 30 seconds faster than my previous PR (personal record). Last year, I was really close to qualifying for state, which made me want to reach that goal even more this year.”
Stewart’s time of 17.46.67 was just 1:13.30 slower than the winner, Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy’s Carson Gilliam. William Cable finished 24th – with a time of 18:27.68 – while Xander Wachacha was 54th, crossing the finish line at the 19:33.51 mark.
Also competing was Jacob Satterfield (83rd, 20:57.19); Zeb Stewart (100th, 22:25.89); and Isaiah Brown (24:54.32). Each individual finish culminated in Robbinsville taking 11th in the team rankings, with 253 points.
The only Lady Knights runner at the meet – sophomore Liberty Hartley – took 31st in the girls race with a time of 22:29.78.
“I’m very pleased with the improvement by everyone on the team this year,” Robbinsville head coach Kaitlyn Carringer-Adams said. “Every single one of them improved this season with new PRs; some by minutes.
“Liberty was All-Conference this year and (also set) a new PR at regionals. Hayden and Xander were All-Conference honorable mention this season – with new PRs – then Hayden broke that PR again at regionals.
“The effort has been great this year, and PRs have proven that.”