Neuse Charter’s Noah Highfil, left, Rosewood’s Gage Lewis, center, and North Duplin’s Jerrson Lopez, right, lead the pack at the start of Tuesday afternoon’s Carolina 1A cross country meet at Cliffs of the Neuse State Park. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Hobbton senior Andrea Sada-Romero, left, and Rosewood’s tandem of Abigail Rowe, center, and Dylan Jinks, right, get the fast start during the girls’ portion of their Carolina 1A cross country meet Tuesday afternoon. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
SEVEN SPRINGS — Once Jerrson Lopez crossed the finish line Tuesday afternoon, he greeted North Duplin teammate Luis Gonzalez.
The two high-fived.
Gonzalez, who didn’t participate in the Carolina 1A Conference cross country race due to an achilles injury, wrote his name down on the clipboard.
“Yeah, I had him on my mind … was like I’m gonna do this for Luis … motivated me to win for him, my teammates and my coach,” Lopez said after posting a meet-winning time of 20 minutes, 20 seconds on the challenging Cliffs of the Neuse State Park course.
Teammate Jair Quintana placed second in 20:53, while Neuse Charter senior Noah Highfil claimed third in 21:04. Rosewood junior Noah Fishman (21:43) and Hobbton junior Nate Miller (22:23) rounded out the top five.
Lopez wasn’t 100 percent, either.
The sophomore battled through nagging ankle and quad injuries. He especially noticed the discomfort on the hilly portion of the 3.12-mile trek.
“I had been stretching thanks to my coach,” Lopez said of Kody Kennedy. “He told me to jog it out, don’t go too hard. But I felt motivated today even if I felt hurt. I pushed it today.”
Lopez and Highfil passed each other back and forth during opening lap. As the two approached the hills a second time, Highfil started to fade back.
“He pulled away a bit, but I felt pretty strong pretty much throughout the entire race,” Highfil said. “[But] by the time you get to the top of that hill, your legs are on fire, but you just have to keep on going. Running that same hill two times is really a challenge.
“He was able to go up the hills a lot easier. They run out here more [for practice], so they’re adapted to the hills. Where we run is more flat. [Today] I just wanted to push as hard as I could go.”
North Duplin senior Sam Carr ended up 10th in 25:25. Teammate Miqueas Lopez Hernand finished 21st overall in 33:10. The Rebels missed Gonzalez, who hopes to return for next week’s meet.
Rosewood’s tandem of freshman Nick Wilson (22:25) and junior Gage Lewis (23:43) placed sixth and seventh, respectively. Senior Jesse Bethea emerged as Lakewood’s top runner with an eighth-place effort of 24:42.
On the girls’ side, Hobbton’s Andrea Sada-Romero turned in a dominating performance. The senior easily defeated runner-up Bella Strickland from Neuse Charter by 66 seconds.
Romero broke the tape in 23:19, while Strickland logged a time of 24:25. Rosewood senior Dylan Jinks wound up third in 25:42, followed by Hobbton’s Julie Herrera (26:35) and Rosewood’s Abigail Rowe (26:39).
Sophomore Gabriella Zamudio logged a 10th-place time (29:40) for North Duplin. Fellow sophomore Roselin Orozco ended up 14th in 31:15. Katie Lopez Hernandes was 17th.
Neuse Charter’s boys scored a perfect 15 points in the team portion of the event. North Duplin, Union, Lakewood, Rosewood and Hobbton didn’t field enough participants to register a team score.
Hobbton defeated Rosewood 26-30 in the girls’ team chase.
You may reach sports writer Rudy Coggins at prepswriter2@gmail.com or call/text 919-709-9257.
