The 2023 cross-country season came to a close on October 28 at Ivey Redmon Park in Kernersville at the Mid-West 4A CPC Conference race. The boys placed 8th with 251 points, beating R.J. Reynolds and West Forsyth who placed 10th and 11th respectively. Two boys from Davie qualified for the 4-A State Championship: junior Thomas Essic and sophomore Ethan Lakey. Both boys placed 12th and 15th respectively, Essic with a time of 16:25 and Lakey with a time of 16:31, an eleven-second personal record. The girls put in a solid effort, placing 18th with a score of 511 points, though ultimately no girls qualified for the 4-A State Championship.
The girl’s cross-country team worked hard and had a great season. They put in the utmost effort and it paid off with them placing fourth out of 26 teams at the Hagan Stone XC Classic The girls also took home fifth place at the CPC Championship, and as Coach Rob Raisbeck says, “[it was] by far the best performance all of the year.”
All season, the team struggled to put runners on the race line. It certainly didn’t help that the team was hit hard with injuries throughout the season. Top runner Lexi Marion battled to stay healthy coming off of injuries from previous seasons and the summer. Marion was able to push through her injuries and place 19th at the Hagan Stone XC Classic.
The girls’ team had many personal records over the season, and times improved at each race. Clara Phelps showed an impressive amount of improvement this year. In the first race, she ran 28:12 at the Providence Invitational, while her performance at regionals resulted in a 22:58 finish, dropping an impressive six minutes in her 5K time.
The girl’s team is saying goodbye to senior Gracie Spicer. Spicer ran number one in many of the races this year, most notably placing 15th at Hagan Stone. Spicer ran for all four years of her high school career and stuck with the team through the COVID-19 pandemic. Her teammates report that she was a great leader on the team and that she will be missed next season.
Coach Rob Raisbeck was satisfied with this year’s season. “I was proud of how our girls hung in there this fall. We dealt with a lot of injuries all season, going back to the summer.”
The boys had an outstanding season this year, and they will just keep getting better. The boy’s team is keeping their top seven runners for next year, and it will be exciting to see how much they have progressed.
The boys placed third at the Hares and Hounds Invitational and second at the Hagan Stone XC Meet behind Science Hill by only one point. Most impressively, the boys secured third place at the CPC Regionals.
Junior Thomas Essic is one of the top runners on the team and in the conference. Essic placed third at the CPC Championship and received all-conference recognition. Thomas secured a spot at states by placing 12th at regionals and finally 43rd at the 4A State Championship. Sophomore Ethan Lakey raced top ten, placing 7th in the CPC Championship, and also receiving all-conference recognition. He was the top sophomore in the race and placed 15th at regionals, qualifying for states, where he placed 61st.
The top seven boys this year—Thomas Essic, Ethan Lakey, Tyler Hill, Brayden Kristner, Aric Boyles, Logan Zuleger, and Jacob Steelman—had a combined average 5K time of 17:05. Coach Rob Raisebeck is excited about the potential he has with the young boys cross country team.
“We have a really bright future. With no seniors in our top eight, we will shatter that next year if the guys continue to train hard, train smart, and stay focused.”
Seniors Will Allard and Slade Keaton ran their final high school cross-country race this year. Allard stuck with the team all four years of his high school career along with Gracie Spicer. While Keaton joined later in his junior year, both guys showed an immense amount of improvement over the years and they both will be missed next year.
For both coaches and runners, this cross country season is something to be proud of, With so few athletes graduating, next season promises to be eventful.
