CLEMMONS
Not much went right for Wilkes Central's Chase Miller during the 2008 cross-country season. He tore a muscle in the back of his leg, missed nearly two months, then returned just before the conference meet. Considering the problems, it was a feat to finish fifth in the state meet.
This year, there were no setbacks. And yesterday morning at Tanglewood Park, Miller showed the rest of the Class 2-A field at the NCHSAA cross-country championships how strong he is when healthy, beating the nearest runner by 12 seconds.
"It feels awesome," he said. "Last year I was hurt. And I didn't train well before states. This is great."
Miller was the only Wilkes Central boys runner to qualify for the state meet. East Lincoln edged Central Davidson for the boys team title, 101-112. Carrboro breezed to the girls team title. North Henderson's Catie Byrd was the girls individual champion, taking a one-second win over Topsail's Zatha Loewen in a sprint.
Miller didn't need a push. He finished in 16:35, well ahead of Swansboro runner Ben Sterett (16:47).
Miller, a senior, said he let a few other runners take the early lead for the first mile, then started to make his move in the second. With about a mile left, it seemed certain that nobody would catch him.
Though Miller had a disappointing junior season in cross country, his win yesterday was no surprise. He won both the mile and the two-mile races in Class 2-A at the state track-and-field championships last spring. He hopes to repeat in those events this year, but said he needed the cross-country title first.
"In cross country, I like the distance and the scenery," he said.
Central Davidson's boys, who took first the Midwest Regional last week, were paced by Cody Bivens, who finished 12th in 17:26. Trey Crook was 21st and freshman Alex Walker was 29th. While the individual results were posted, the Spartans held out hope for a team championship. It wasn't until the awards ceremony that they realized they came just 11 points short of East Lincoln.
The Spartans accepted their second-place medals with mixed emotions. "The happy is we had a really good season. We went above and beyond where we thought we would be (at the beginning of the season)," Coach Greg Peters of Central Davidson said. "We thought it would be between Carrboro, Owen, East Lincoln, and us. And I think what happened was, East Lincoln just stepped up and went above and beyond what they did all year."
The girls individual race provided drama down to the finish. Byrd led through most of the first two miles. Different runners, including Laney Browder of Wilkes Central (who was seventh), came up behind Byrd and pushed her. But none could overtake her until Topsail's Loewen passed Byrd in the final mile.
Byrd rallied, though, and reclaimed the lead with about 500 meters remaining. The two weren't separated by more than a fraction the rest of the way, but Byrd, a sophomore, was able to hold on.
"I was telling myself how bad I wanted it," Byrd said. "I had a blank mind, really. I'm a competitor."
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