By Becca Royer, Features Editor
When people think of high school athletics, many sports come to mind: basketball, lacrosse, football — other events that draw big crowds. However, a lesser-known sport is emerging at Reynolds and even has a good chance of claiming a top-three spot in the state.
The men’s cross-country team runs. Fast.
For those unfamiliar with the sport of cross country, the goal is to finish a 3.1 mile (5-kilometer) race. The top five runners score points for their team in the order they finish. For example, if you were to finish third, you would get three points, or if you finished 44th you would get 44 points. The team with the least amount of points wins that race.
This year, the men’s team has looked extremely promising. After only losing one senior runner from last year’s varsity squad (Eric Royer), the Demons and an outstanding summer of tough training and came back better than ever. Seniors Dustin Sneed and Spencer Kirk are hoping to lead the team to place in the state meet, and coach Ryan Solomon appreciates the hard work being put in by the captains.
“I’m confident that Sneed and Spence will lead this team to its best season in over a decade,” Solomon said. “This team will also be quite intimidating to others when they execute their pack-mentality running they’ve been perfecting over this summer.”
Sneed and Kirk are joined by juniors Joe Wilson, Nick Ciaccia and Andrew Ciaccia to form the top five runners for Reynolds. All have 5K times under 16:50, which is why the Demons are projected to finish among the best 4-A teams in the state.
Solomon is confident the team can meet and exceed its preseason ranking of third and also reach many other goals the runners set for themselves.
“We want to win the CPC Championship and end the Tabor winning streak of 23 years,” Solomon said. “We also want to win the 4-A Midwest Regional meet and finish as runner-up (or higher) in the 4-A state meet on Nov. 2.”
As strong as this season looks for the varsity men, the future also looks bright thanks to an impressive JV team.
“Our JV team this season looks to be the strongest we’ve had in my three years here at RJR,” Solomon said. “It will be led by some juniors and seniors with a lot of talented and competitive freshmen and sophomores right behind them. I anticipate our JV team to pick up some hardware (trophies and awards) from some invitationals this season, without a doubt.”
Don’t miss the Demons in action this fall!
- Sept. 28 — Greensboro Cross Country Invitational at Hagen-Stone, 9 a.m.
- Oct. 5 — Wendy’s Invitational at McAlpine Park, Charlotte, 9 a.m.
- Oct. 12 — NCRunners 9th/10th at Beeson Park, Kernersville, 9 a.m.
- Oct. 16 — Central Piedmont Conference Championships at West Forsyth, 5 p.m.
- Oct. 26 — NCHSAA 4-A Regional at Beeson Park, Kernersville, 9 a.m.
- Nov. 2 — NCHSAA 4-A Championships at Beeson Park, Kernersville, 9 a.m.
Stephen Wilis • Sep 26, 2013 at 11:45 am
I found it very informing. it really help me catch up on how the RJ Reynolds cross-country team is doing this year. I wish them good luck.
Elizabeth Gunter • Sep 26, 2013 at 11:38 am
Great article, hope the boys do well this year. Beat Tabor