Staff Writer
The
Apex Men’s Cross Country team won the SWAC Conference Meet on October 15, 2014
at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary. Apex won for the second straight year as they
edged Green Hope by a score of 37-48.
Due
to a sloppy course, the normally fast curse was significantly slower despite
ideal weather conditions. The individual winner of the 5k, Dean Abushouk, led
from start to finish running a time of 16:02. Apex was led by junior Derek Duin
who was second for most of the race but was out-kicked by Green Hope’s Henry
Pehr and finished third with a time of 16:24. Earning All-conference honors
(top 15) for Apex were Duin (3rd), sophomore Ben Savino (5th),
senior Jordan Kokoska (8th), junior Lawson Benfield (10th),
senior Wyatt Miller (11th), and senior Jacob Townsend (14th).
It was the most all-conference runners from any school in the meet.
Apex
repeated as conference champions after ending a 12 year drought last year. “Winning
conference the second time was just as satisfying as the first. It’s always
great knowing that you came away winning,” said Kokoska. Kokoska earned
all-conference for all four seasons of his high school cross country career. “It
just shows that all the hard work I put into my cross country career has paid
off. I’m just starting to realize now how rare this accomplishment is and I’m
honored to say that I’m a part of this small group.”
The
Apex girls finished third but were right on the heels of Panther Creek, finishing
just twelve points behind. The Apex ladies were led by junior Allison Rosen who
ran 19:54 and finished 14th. She was the only cougar to earn
all-conference honors. Green Hope dominated the girls’ race as they have the
past ten years. They finished with 10 runners in the top 15 and ran away with
the conference title.
Apex
is back in action this Saturday in Cary at WakeMed Soccer Park in the NCHSAA
Regional Meet. Both the girls’ and boys’ teams will look to advance to the state
meet by finishing in the top four.
