The Avery boys and girls cross country teams traveled to Montreat College in Black Mountain to take part in the Western Highlands Conference championships on Thursday. The event was held on a 5K course with a number of challenging hills to test the racers’ will and endurance.It was the men who competed first on the course, with Avery fielding four runners in the meet with Ethan Church, Jared Clark, Will Fox, and Jose Munoz.
Avery as well as Mitchell did not have enough male entrants to comprise a full team for statistical and team championship purposes, as Owen won the team boys championship followed by Hendersonville. Munoz came in with the fastest time out of the Avery boys contingent with a time of 21:09, good enough for 28th overall in the competition.
In the girls competition, Avery fielded enough to qualify for team points as Mary Chesnut Smith, Caroline Crenshaw, Elyse Perry, Katelyn Eudy, Taylor Lacey, Debra Anderson and Teddie Jablonski competed for the Big Red.
The girls race was a competitive affair, as Kristen Stout, WHC Female Runner of the Year, captured first place with Avery’s sophomore Mary Chesnut Smith finishing just behind her in second place overall with a time of 21:27, with Crenshaw finishing 19th best overall.
Six schools had enough female participants to qualify for the overall team championship, with Hendersonville capturing first place overall. Avery finished the day in fifth place, with an average time a shade under than four minutes behind third place Polk County.
