CHARLOTTE — Watauga’s 3,200-meter relay teams both scored points in the 4A state championship meet at Belk Stadium on Friday. The next day, Kristin Stroupe nearly ran away with a state championship. |
Stroupe, Watauga’s senior who will run for North Carolina next year, finished second in the 3,200-meter run on Saturday, finishing with a time of 10 minutes, 54.21 seconds.
Stroupe finished second behind Myers Park’s Julia Lucas, who ran up victories in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs. She was named the top runner in the girls’ meet. Carly Matthews of Mount Tabor was third in the 3,200.
Both Lucas and Stroupe broke the state record of 11:01. Lucas is just the third woman to win three distance races in a state meet.
“Kristin ran a great race,” Pioneers coach Randy McDonough said. “They sort of let Carly Matthews do all the work for the first six laps and then Julie took off and Kristin went with her. It was a great race.” The relays proved to be just as competitive, especially in the end. In the girls’ relay, Watauga finished fifth in a close finish with R.J. Reynolds.
Watauga ended up in fifth place with a time of 9:50.22, just off of Reynolds’ 9:50.21.
Watauga’s team consisted of Stroupe, Kristen Bowden, Anna Lamm and Anna Mae Flynn. “That one was a photo finish,” McDonough said.
Watauga’s boys’ relay team also had a close bout to secure third place. The Pioneers’ team, which consisted of John Tumbleston, T.J. Kenny, Tyler Wilkenson and Elliott Austin, finished with a time of 7:59.18.
That was just behind second-place Apex, which finished with a 7:59.01. North Forsyth won the race with a 7:52.19.
“The first leg went really fast,” McDonough said of the race. “John was right in the middle of the pack and he handed off to Tyler. He hadn’t raced in two weeks, but he did well in keeping us in third place. It stayed the same with T.J. and then Elliott and the guy from Apex kept passing each other until the Apex runner leaned Elliott at the line.”
North Forsyth’s bid to set a new state record, held by Watauga, fell short. Watauga’s team of Ricky Brookshire, Patrick Murphy, Nathan Giles and Brian Greer set the state mark of 7:49 back in 2000.
Watauga also had a handful of others participating in individual events. Ginna Calloway qualified for the 300-meter finals and then finished seventh with a personal best time of 47.30.
Flynn finished eighth in the 3,200 and Kenny took 10th in the 800. Tumbleston added a seventh-place finish in the 1,600-meter run.
• McDonough said there will be a meeting Tuesday at 3:45 p.m. in the main lobby for those interested in running cross country.