NEWBERRY—Westwood senior and South Carolina signee Emma Ashley scored a first-place finish in the Class 5A Division 2 girls’ cross-country championship race Thursday morning at The Farm cross-country course.
“It means so much,” Ashley said. “This has been many years in the making. I started running cross country in seventh grade, so to have this be the way I close out my senior cross-country season with a win just means the world.”
Ashley crossed the finish line with a time of 18 minutes and 46.55 seconds. She established an early lead on the field and kept her distance to win the crown.
“I had gone through the race in my head many times before, and that (getting off to a lengthy lead) wasn’t exactly the plan going into it,” Ashley said. “I have a habit of being a front runner, I like to get out hard at the beginning and just maintain.”
She added that coming into the action Thursday, she thought about how many fast girls there were and that she wanted to get out in front, but also focus on the last mile to make her move.
“But the first mile, I felt amazing,” she added. “I looked at the hills as an opportunity for me because my coach, (Thunder Road Running coach) Kevin Ondrasek and (Westwood) Coach (Brice) Mann both trained me really well on hills.”
Ashley led Westwood to an 11th overall finish. Behind her were sophomore Christina Tyndall at 29th, freshman Rebecca Ashley at 36th, and seniors Jamiya Carter at 97th and Amira Coleman at 98th.
The Fort Mill girls finished atop the field to claim the 5A Division 2 championship with a total score of 39 points. Alia Cleveland, Ella Demmerle, Avery Moriarty and Mia Zook finished fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively. Kaylee Rovenstine placed 13th to round out the Yellow Jackets’ top five runners.
