On Wednesday, Oct. 23 Hayesville High’s cross country teams ran at the Smoky Mountain Conference championships in Cherokee. The Hayesville men went into the meet ranked third in the state just behind Lincoln Charter and Murphy High. The Lady Jackets entered the meet ranked fifth in the state. It has been quite some time since both teams have been ranked so highly for the state championship.
Caroline Burch, left and Kaysen Krieger pose with coach Zach Moss after being named to the All-Conference team.
The Lady Jackets ran extremely well finishing as the 2019 SMC champions. The ladies were led by freshman Kaysen Krieger and sophomore Caroline Burch finishing in second and sixth respectively. Each earned All-Conference honors. Freshman Lila Roberts finished in 14th place and earned SMC Honorable Mention honors. To be All-Conference athletes must finish in the top seven on race day. In order to finish as Honorable Mention, athletes must finish as a top 14 performer. Freshman Meadow Rose, Junior Allison Thomas, sophomore Cecelia Jones and freshman Emma Shook also ran very well finishing in 16th, 21st, 22 and 26th place respectively. The Lady Jackets are full of young talented runners who are already making their mark on not only the conference, but the state. When asked about the Lady Jackets coach Zach Moss replied, “I am extremely proud of each young woman on this team. They have worked very hard to achieve this goal of a SMC championship. Our ladies have a lot to run for in the coming weeks.
Yellow Jacket All-Conference award winners, from left, Eli Roberts, Jackson Burch, Paul White and Rylean Snowden are all smiles with coach Zach Moss after a strong second place finish.
The men knew going into the meet they would have to run their best times of the year to compete with Murphy. Coach Moss challenged his athletes to focus and run with “Jacket Pride.” Hayesville had six of their seven runners finish as All-Conference or Honorable Mention athletes. Jackson Burch, Eli Roberts, Paul White, and Ryelan Snowden all finished with All-Conference honors in second, fourth, sixth and seventh place finishes respectively. Jose Constantino and Kevin Cook finished in 10th and 14th place, earning SMC Honorable Mention honors. Andrew Scheu also ran very well and finished in 18th place. Once the dust settled, the Hayesville men found themselves in an extremely close race with Murphy losing the SMC championship by only 1 point. This race featured two of the state’s best cross country programs and was the closest race in SMC history. When asked about the SMC championship meet coach Moss replied, “I am at peace with the result. Our team set out with the goal of taking home the championship and fell just short. However, the athletes ran the best I have seen them run all year and I am so happy that both our men and women running programs are making Hayesville proud.”
The Yellow Jacket runners will compete in the NCHSAA Western Regional championship meet Saturday, Nov. 2 in Newton.