The final weeks of the 2009 cross country season has been quite an experience for the Banks County boys’ team.
Banks County’s Leopard runners came away from the region meet in third place, and qualified to compete in the state meet this past Saturday in Carrollton.
According to head coach Kelly McDuffie, the team was getting focused on the big race before even leaving Banks County.
Local restaurant Longhorn Steakhouse provided a meal for the team on Friday, before the Leopard runners headed down to preview the course. McDuffie said the team was thankful for the generosity.
On race day, Banks County runners checked themselves among the elite runners of the state.
“The magnitude of the races were overwhelming,” said McDuffie. “Our team was getting focused to run as hard and fast as they could.”
At the start Banks County left the blocks well, and by the one mile marker, the race was going “exceptionally well,” according to McDuffie.
At the two mile mark, Ivan Diaz led the Leopards and within a two minute lapse, the rest of the Leopard team passed the marker. Following I. Diaz were Jorge Diaz, Kieffer Hellmeister, Trey Martin, Wuilians Olandez, Avery Chastain and Jared Gregory.
“We began to move to the finish line and Ivan Diaz was climbing the last hill that would lead to the home stretch,” said McDuffie. “There was no question that he would be in the 18’s but the first three runners were going to do the same.”
All of the Banks County runners finished inside the top 100 out of a field of 221 individual runners. The Leopards finished eighth out of 32 teams, with 239 points.
“It has been an awesome season, and I am proud of the boys and girls cross country teams,” McDuffie said.
Individually, Ivan Diaz led the pack for Banks County finishing the course in 18:01.66. Following I. Diaz, the other two runners in Banks’ top three also finished inside of 18 minutes. Jorge Diaz finished in 18:20.68 and Trey Martin was just behind at 18:33.36.
Banks County’s other four runners finished the state meet in the next minute. Avery Chastain at 19:04.58 was followed by Kieffer Hellmeister at 19:06.21. Rounding out the Leopards’ runners were Wuilians Olandez at 19:39.95 and Jared Gregory at 19:43.13.
The team’s total time for the Carrollton course was 1:33:06.49 for an average run of 18:37.30.
First place in Class AA went to Westminster, followed by East Jackson and Lovett.
The Leopards’ will graduate four seniors from the boys’ team: Jorge Diaz, Kiefer Hellmeister, Wuilians Olandez and Jared Gregory.
