The West Stanly Colts Cross Country teams competed at Hagan Stone Park in Greensboro in the 35th Greensboro Invitational.

This levent hosted eight high school races, two middle school races and two college races.

Despite the muddy conditions from recent storms and the climbing temperatures, many of the Colt competitors recorded personal records or season-best times.

Women’s Results

The highest Colt team finish came from the women’s invitational division where the top seven runners competed. Senior Pierson McManus went out fast from the gun hoping to run a personal record and did just that. McManus cut 25 seconds off her previous best time on the course, while just slipping under her personal record. McManus raced to a 20:41 time and a ninth place finish out of 166 finishers. McManus also hit the awards’ stand as the top 21 finishers were awarded trophies.

McManus needed a teammate to get her award as she joined fellow seniors Maddie Miller and Brooklyn Simpson at Lenoir Rhyne University as recruitment for the three Colt runners has got underway.

Freshman Natalie Almond hit the awards’ platform as she ran her second-best time of 21:18 to a 14th place finish.

Simpson moved back into the third spot for the Colts by running her fastest time at Hagan Stone, 23:58 for 49th place. Miller was right behind Simpson, running 23:08 for 54th.

Sophomore Rachel Efird dropped her time on the course from last year to 23:53 for 74th. Freshman Laney McCollum moved up a spot on the team, running 24:48 — three seconds off her personal best. Junior Katherine Pollard ran 25:30 to stay in the Colts top seven.

The Colt women finished in sixth place out of 24 teams, with Covenant Day School wining the team title.

The other West women competing in the open category included Peyton Hill (25:31), Aniston Hann (25:55-PR), Karsyn Underwood (26:28-PR), Kaylee Hartsell (26:57), Morgan Whitley (28:34), Any Avila (28:59 PR), Kaelynn Morris (29:20-PR), Shayla Grismer (31:10), Amy Henry (31:14), Kylie Howard (32:42) and Kennedy Scott (32:49).

Men’s Results

The Colt top seven men also had a solid day running in the invitational division. The spectators witnessed a great finish from the top two Colts with senior Noah Almond and junior Korbin McNeill racing to a photo finish.

No one knew which Colt had crossed the finish line first until the results were posted. Runners wear a computer chip on their shoe that records their time when their foot crosses the computerized finishing mat. McNeill ran 18:46.68 for 43rd place while Almond ran 18:46.91 for 44th place. The two Colts separated by less than a fourth of a second both ran their best time for the Hagan Stone course.

Freshman James Shue, running the course for the first time, ran 19:21 for 77th. Sophomore Austin Huneycutt ran in the Colts’ fourth spot at 19:59, with junior Nathan Brown close behind in 20:10 and junior Daniel Brattain close behind Brown in 20:26. Freshman Blayne Morton ran his second-best time of 21:16.

The men’s invitational division had 193 finishers, with Northern Nash High winning the team title. The Colt men finished 15th out of 27 schools.

In the earlier open race, senior Graham Tucker continues to improve running 20:35 for a season-best time. Other Colts in the open division were: Arturo Zelaya (21:27), Matthew White (21:32 PR), Camden Misenheimer (21:58 PR), Logan Huneycutt (22:18, River Dodd (23:16), Collin Cooper 23:57), Chayse Huneycutt (24:13 PR), Tyler McDonald (24:16 PR), Toby Troxler (24:27 PR) and Seth Henry (25:06).