Hayesville Girls Take Third; Moss wins 5K at Murphy

By Travis Dockery

Sportswriter

Hayesville High School’s cross country teams turned in solid team finishes Saturday, Sept. 19, at Murphy High School, with the girls placing third and freshman Makenna Moss winning the individual girls race.

The Yellow Jacket girls scored 92 points for third place behind Union County (46) and Cherokee (57). Towns County (107), Tri-County Early College (113), Copper Basin (125) and Swain County (153) rounded out the team scoring.

Moss covered the 5,000 meters in 21:13.00 to take first overall. Marlo Joyce finished 15th in 24:50.20, Annie Godfrey 30th in 27:26.70, Caroline Wade 33rd in 28:14.90 and Libbie Moore 35th in 28:30.60 to complete Hayesville’s scoring five. Kaelyn Cook (36th, 28:34.20) and Lily Gordon (47th, 30:49.10) were the next two Yellow Jackets across. Zoe Angelopulos (63rd, 37:59.40) and Izzy Hall (64th, 38:10.40) also competed.

On the boys side, Hayesville placed fourth with 101 points. Robbinsville won the meet with 43 points, followed by Union County (53) and Andrews (91). Hiwassee Dam was fifth at 109.

Eli Cheeks led the Yellow Jackets in 10th place overall in 17:58.50. Porter Hood was 17th in 18:56.00, Jackson Dye 22nd in 19:09.60, Evan Burks 27th in 19:44.00 and Garrison Boyer 36th in 20:35.20 to form the scoring five.

Gage Brown finished 44th in 21:15.30 and Ian Herrada-Luna 61st in 22:11.90 as the sixth and seventh runners.

Also competing for Hayesville were Brandon Prieto-Rivera (63rd, 22:23.90), Robert Manning (79th, 24:44.80), Nate Cook (83rd, 25:40.91), Fritz Chevalier (95th, 31:11.20), Archie Galloway (98th, 35:48.81), Ayden Cannon (101st, 42:55.70) and Matteo Colandrea (102nd, 42:55.70).

The meet featured schools from across the western North Carolina and north Georgia mountains, including Robbinsville, Union County, Andrews, Hiwassee Dam, Swain, Cherokee, Summit Charter, Murphy and Towns County.

Next up for Hayesville is a meet is the Tryon Fall Cross Country Festival on Friday, Sept. 25 in Mill Spring.