NEWBERRY – Fairfield Central’s Cross Country runners hit the ground in Newberry on Saturday for the SCHSL AA State Qualifiers.
The Griffin boys’ team placed ninth out of 14 teams in their group, just missing the cut off to qualify for the State meet. Only the top eight teams in each race advance to the championship meet. The Griffins finished with 247 points, Hampton County High School finished in eighth with 220 points. Greer Middle College finished first with 40 points.
Griffin runner Hank White qualified to run individually in the state meet with his top-20 finish. White finished the Newberry College Course at the 17:21.20 mark for sixth place out of 101 runners. Quinn Swanton of Academic Magnet finished first at the 16:34.60 mark.
Sidney Wilson finished second for the Griffins at 20:05.80 for 45th place. Parker Douglas followed at 20:35.90 for 51st place, and Krishi Patel ran the course in 21:28.10 for 62nd place. Jamari Johnson rounded out the Griffin score with 27:17.70 time. Jared Dixon finished at 28:02.00.
With only three runners, the Griffin girls were unable to compete for a team spot at the state meet. Brittany Mack finished first for Fairfield at 28:35.60. SaKira Hayes followed at 28:36.40, and Teairra McDuffie finished at the 36:44.10 mark.
White will compete in the State meet on Saturday at Newberry College’s course. The boys’ Class AA meet begins at 11:30 a.m. with awards to follow.
