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By Stan Olenik
For Hometown News
The Dorman boys’ cross-country team started the new season right where they finished last season. The Cavaliers claimed the title in the International Division race at the Eye Opener Cross Country meet at Milliken.
Dorman won the South Carolina 4A title last November and are considered a favorite for a second straight championship.
The Cavaliers were led by Brandon Easler and Chase Wolfe who finished eighth and tenth respectively in the featured race.
“We are happy with the win,” said Dorman coach Jeff Buys. “It shows that we are heading in the right direction but our focus is on the big meets at the end of the season,” added the coach.
The Cavaliers finished ahead of runner-up T.C. Roberson of Asheville and third place Spartanburg High School.
“Three of our seven runners ran their all time fastest times and to do that early in the season is good. We know we will improve as the season moves on. I’m pleased with where we are right now. It gives us a confidence boost that what we have been doing is paying off,” said Buys.
Joining Easler and Wolfe on the winning team were Jan Kimbrell, Richard Zarnoch and Preston Hilton.
The third place finish by the Spartanburg boys was also seen as a confidence booster by their head coach Rob Wilder.
“I was pleased with how we packed up during the race,” said Wilder. “We know we are going to get faster and if we can do that later in the year we can be successful,” added the Spartanburg coach.
Sage Kosiorek of Boiling Springs was the top individual area runner in the meet won by Isaac Presson of Asheville High School. The Bulldog sophomore runner finished fourth to help his team to an eleventh place finish.
“I felt really good early and tried to stay with Brandon Easler (Dorman’s top runner and last year’s 4A individual runner-up) early in the race,” said Kosiorek. “I got past him but I kind of crashed on the last mile or I could have done even better,” he said.
The International Girls race was dominated by Roberson. Laura Hoer of Roberson won the girls race by over 30 seceonds. The top area finisher was Hanna Burkholder of Boiling Springs. Burkholder missed a top-ten finish by a step and was eleventh in the race.
Spartanburg’s Anna Todd was thirteenth, Dorman’s Katie Inclan was fourteenth, Boiling Springs Anastasia Kolesnitchenko and Evie Tate of the Vikings was eighteenth in the race.
The Dorman girls team finished fifth while the defending 4A state champions from Spartanburg ended up seventh. Boiling Springs finished eleventh and Spartanburg Christian Academy was twelfth in the 19-team International race field.
In the Championship Division race, Austin High of Chesnee was the runner-up to Steve Rivard of Stratford for the individual title. Samantha Waters of Landrum was the top area girl’s finisher in the Championship Division taking fifth place.
Stratford from Charleston won both the boys and girls team titles. The Landrum girl’s team finished fourth while the Cardinal boys were eighth in the Championship field. Spartanburg Day was tenth in the boy’s race.
In the College Division I race Gilbert Kemboi of USC Upstate won the 8 K race in a time of 25.00 minutes and a 28 second victory. Davidson College won the team competition with Upstate finishing third.
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