WINNSBORO – Fairfield Central boys’ cross country team’s first place finish at the Region 4-3A meet may have not been a shock, but it was impressive nevertheless.
Consistently cruising into top finishes throughout the season, the Griffins pulled five top-10 finishes in the region meet.
Led by senior Joshua Mosley in first place at 17:01.54, the Griffins were the only team to have all top five runners finish in 20 minutes or less.
Freshman Hank White finished second for Fairfield and in fourth place overall at 18:08.09. Eighth grader Nygel Woodard followed on White’s heels at 18:09.13 for fifth place overall. Rylan Woodard (19:25.62) and Malachi Woodard (20:16.66) rounded out the Griffin scores in eighth and tenth places respectively. Though his score did not count towards the team score because he was the Griffins’ sixth place finisher, eighth grader Sidney Wilson finished the meet only one second behind Woodard at 20:17.70 and in 11th place overall.
The Griffin girls also had a good race, finishing second in the region behind Mid-Carolina. Freshman Kensley Green finished first for Fairfield and in fourth place overall at 22:28.45. Teairra McDuffie placed 10th at 25:01.72. Jamie Downs finished 11th at 26:07.96. Miaya Sloss had a time of 28:03.69 for 14th place overall and Gianna Rhodes finished in 15th place overall at 28:12.02.
Coach Ediberto Cristano was named Region Coach of the Year.
The Griffins look next to the State Qualifiers, which are held on Friday, Nov. 5 at Newberry College. The state meet will be held at Clemson Sandhill Research Education Center in Columbia on Thursday, Nov. 11.
