Pioneers  prepared for Tanglewood

By Steve Behr

sports@wataugademocrat.com

Watauga's boys’ cross country team is back in familiar territory — in the hunt for a state 4-A championship.

The Pioneers, consisting of Luke Nelson, Brooks Forsyth, Jay Weaver, Zeb Sanders, Will Barbour, Ben Vollmer and Jordan Trivette, take their best shot at a title Saturday at Tanglewood Park in Winston-Salem.

They’ll be joined by two members from the Watauga girls’ team — Bridgette McLean and Dolly Dollars — who qualified as individuals at the Western Regional held at McAlpine Park in Charlotte last week.

The boys race begins at 10:30 a.m., followed by the girls race at 11:30 a.m.

Watauga coach Randy McDonough has been happy with the way all of his runners have practiced this week. Watauga started the week with some hard workouts and has gradually made them easier so the runners can rest for Saturday’s races.

“They’ve had a great week of practice and they seem to be hungry,” McDonough said. “I’ve had teams in the past that did well in the regional and it seemed that it was their championship. This team feels like it has something to prove.”

Nelson and Forsyth have generally been running with the front runners, while the rest of the Pioneers have been running against packs from other teams. McDonough said all of the Pioneers must not just settle for running behind the same opponents the entire race.

“They can’t settle,” McDonough said. “They have to go after the people in front of them. Brooks and Luke have to try to move up, but the pack has to also move up.”

McLean and Dollars can’t win a team championship, but both would like to finish in the top 10, which would give them all-state honors.

“They’re mentally prepared,” McDonough said. “Tanglewood is not a harder course, but it’s a slower course. At Tanglewood, you can get to the first mile and hear the split time and feel like you’re not doing well because it’s sounds so slow. We’re not looking at times as much as we’re looking at people.”