Polk County turned in a strong showing Saturday at the Freedom Invitational, with the Wolverine boys placing fourth and both varsity squads producing top-10 individual finishes at Freedom High School in Morganton.
The boys finished fourth in a meet that drew 22 registered teams, though only 10 schools had enough finishers to post a team score. Polk totaled 129 points, trailing Enka (60), Kings Mountain (98) and Run 4 Life Iredell (109).
Junior Liam Jackson led the Wolverines, placing fourth overall in 17:28. He finished 19 seconds behind individual champion Will Evans of NCSSM-Morganton.
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Davis Holbert was Polk’s second varsity finisher, taking 27th in 19:56. Benji Ballenger placed 32nd in 20:02, Dean Holland was 44th in 20:41 and Liam Finch finished 45th in 20:43 to complete Polk’s scoring five.
Freshman Sophia Junge led the Polk girls, placing ninth overall in 23:02. Sadie Schweitzer finished 30th in 25:22, with LilliAnna Rhymer crossing in 28:23 and Kendra Kitchen in 30:21.
Polk head coach Alan Peoples said the girls finished fifth as a team, though two Polk runners experienced timing-chip failures and were not included in the initial published results. Peoples has contacted meet officials seeking a correction.
The meet also included a strong showing from Polk’s boys JV runners. Sophomore Caleb Young finished second, junior Logan Baird took third and sophomore Jack Baughman placed fourth. Sophomore Austin Martin added a ninth-place finish.
Peoples also reported that nine Polk runners recorded personal-best performances during the meet.
“It was a great day to be a Wolverine harrier,” Peoples said.
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