Lady Cyclones dominate at Three Rivers
Published 8:54 am Wednesday, October 21, 2015
CORRESPONDENT
Last year, Elizabethton did not like watching Sullivan East dominate the girls division at the Three Rivers Conference Meet.
The Lady Cyclones placed five runners in the top nine to easily win the event at Doe River Gorge on Tuesday with Heather Fechutenberger leading with the way for Elizabethton in third place overall behind Unicoi County’s Megan Todd and Sullivan East’s Paige Roberts with a time of 21:46.28
Maci Shell was fourth (22:55), Lauren Pilkton was fifth (23:27), Emily Schubert was seventh (24;21) and Julia Schubert was ninth at 25:25.
Randi Fechutenberger and Makayla Newman also placed in the top 15 for Elizabethton.
In an area where distance running is very strong, Fechutenberger was grateful to have a break out day.
“We had a great day,” said Feuchtenberger. “We had beautiful weather and we all ran well. God has blessed us with the best weather, the best teams and the best people. It has been a really good experience this year.
“We have been working so hard because we want to win conference,” she added. “We want to win regionals and we want to win state.”
Elizabethton will have to finish in the top three in the region to go on to state. Last year the Lady Cyclones finished third, but with Sullivan East rebuilding, they are looking to go one step further and claim the regional championship next Thursday at Daniel Boone.
Fechutenberger and the Lady Cyclones are looking for a repeat performance and more next week at regionals.
“Our ultimate goal is we want to be the champs,” Feuchutenberger said. “But whatever happens we are a team. We love it.”
Happy Valley’s top girls finisher was Amanda Howland in 20th.
The Cyclone boys finished third as a team with Harrison Wright leading the way for EHS in 10th with a time of 19:25. Ethan Fields was 12th at 19:40 and Luke Collins was 13th at 19:48.
Wright was very pleased to be able to crack that top 10.
“It feels pretty awesome to be among the best,” said Wright. “The course is so much better than last year. We are looking forward to next Thursday at regionals.
“We have had a lot of struggles keeping people on the team, but it just feels good to come out here and show we can still do something with just barely having enough guys to make a score. Our guys are working hard.”
Happy Valley’s boys team was led by Tristan Morley, who finished in 36th.
