Staff Writer
The Apex Cross Country made a clean
sweep of the "We've Got Class" Invitational on Saturday at Sugg Farm
Park in Holly Springs taking home four first place trophies. There were four
races at the invitational: an underclassman boys’ and girls’ race and an
upperclassmen boys and girls race.The first race of the overcast morning (and the first race ever at Sugg Farm Park) was the boys’ underclassmen race. Apex sophomore Ben Savino took the lead halfway through the race and never looked back from there, winning the race with a time of 17:41. Just before the 2-mile mark is the signature of the course, Heartbreak Hill. Not only was this hill right in the middle of the race but it was also wet so that made the footing awful making it even more difficult to ascend to the top. "I can't really describe it. It was worse than any other hill we have run," described Savino. Apex Freshman David Cart was the first freshman across the finish line and finished 3rd overall, running 18:14. Apex had four runners in the top ten including sophomores Austin Lalicker (8th) and Kyle Joyce (10th). Apex won easily 36-80 over Holly Springs.
The second race of the morning was the girls’ upperclassmen race. Apex dominated this race having four runners in the top five and 11 runners out of the first 13. "All of the girls have worked so hard this season. It was awesome to see all of our hard work so far pay off," said senior captain Sarah Wotus. She finished 11th overall and was the 4th senior to finish which earned her a medal, her first in her four years as a runner. "The course was definitely hard but it was extremely exciting to win my first cross country medal," said Wotus.
Next up were the upperclassmen boys. After some rain and a relatively slow course, the times were not very impressive. Junior Stephen Whitehead from Northern Nash won the race with a time of 17:10. Apex finished with four runners in the top 10 including senior Jordan Kokoska and junior Derek Duin who finished 3rd and 4th respectively. This was the closest team competition of the day as Apex barely edged Northern Nash by a single point, 42-43. These two teams will not meet in the postseason, however, because they are in different classifications (Apex is in 4A and Northern Nash is in 3A).
The final race of the day was the underclassmen girls. Many of these girls were running their very first 5k of their high school career. Apex once again had multiple runners in the top 10 including freshman Jenna Stevens and sophomore Kylie Hofmeister. These two girls have been at the core of a talented young Apex team as they also finished in the top 10 at the Seahawk Invitational a week ago. Apex completed the sweep with a win over Northern Nash by a score of 39-62.
Apex will look to continue their success this Saturday at the Wakemed Soccer Park, their home course. The Adidas Cross Country Challenge is one of the biggest races of the year and Apex will look to compete with some of the best teams in the state.
