Runners compete in two meets

High school cross country teams competed in two meets this week before they finished up the regular season on Tuesday. The region meet will be 4 p.m. Oct. 21 in Sumter.

The heat and humidity tampered down times during the Oct. 6 cross country meet at Sumter. The Hartsville High School boys’ team placed second with 58 points. Sumter came in first with 26, South Florence in third with 66 and West Florence in fourth with 83.

Top Hartsville runners included Allen Ownley with a time of 19:18 (5th place), Justin Steeves with a time of 19:40 (6th place), Drew McCall with a time of 21:30 (16th place), Luke Valle with a time of 21:35 (18th place) and Connor Ransome with a time of 21:43 (20th place).

On Saturday, the Hartsville boys finished first in the Darlington Cross Country Carnival, a 6-way meet, picking up five more wins to run Hartsville’s season record to 19-5 overall and 6-3 in the region. The teams competing were Hartsville (59 points), Darlington (60), Cheraw (81), West Florence (87), South Florence (93) and The King’s Academy (123).

Three Hartsville runners finished in the top ten: Justin Steeves (19:08, 6th), Allen Ownley (19:28, 7th) and Drew McCall (19:46, 10th). South Florence’s Matt Humphries finished first in 16:43; Darlington’s Tyler Cooke finished second in 17:58; West Florence’s Brayden Reince came in third in 18:03; South Florence’s Ryan McClure came in fourth in 18:58; and Cheraw’s Robbie Slack rounded out the top five in 19:06.

The Hartsville varsity girls’ did not have enough team members to score on Saturday. Hammond placed first with 22 points followed by West Florence with 58, Darlington with 68 and Cheraw with 93.

Top area runners were Darlington’s Jessica Hatchell (20:37, 2nd) and Cheraw’s Amanda Bruneio (22:45, 5th). Hartsville runners included Erin Farrell (25:26, 21st), Madison Hassler (27:07, 26th) and Laura Richie (30:09, 33rd).

On the junior varsity side, Hartsville’s Vance Odom finished first in a time of 22:04. The rest of the top five were Cheraw’s Seth Keefe (22:49), Cheraw’s Damien Hinson (23:26), Cheraw’s Noel Williams (24:33) and Darlington’s Daniel Drew (25:00).