Polk County Middle School’s cross country program showed promising early-season form Tuesday, with both the boys’ and girls’ teams posting strong individual performances in the season-opening meet at Flat Rock Middle School.
Noah Hammond led the way for the Wolverine boys, claiming second place overall with an unofficial time of 13:01 on the course. On the girls’ side, Sophia Junge matched that achievement, also securing second place with a time of 15:21.
“We were very pleased with how well everyone did this early in the season,” Polk Middle head coach Jennifer Morton said. “We also have many first year runners who were competing for the first time ever.”
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The Wolverines demonstrated solid depth in both races. Noah Gutierrez backed up Hammond’s performance with a time of 14:41, while John McGrath (15:56), Eric Ramirez (16:55) and Kelton Kitchen (17:45) rounded out the boys’ top five scoring positions.
In the girls’ race, Rylie Kilmstra (18:10) and Nora Williams (18:16) finished close together to provide strong support behind Junge’s lead effort. Heidi Klootwyk (18:40) and Lucy Delmas (19:12) completed the scoring quintet for the Wolverines.
Ellis Searcy (18:40) and Kaiden Kitchen (20:22) also competed for the boys’ team, while Carolina Foster (20:32), Ellis Miller (20:45), Adeline Blackwell (21:12), Dulce Chavez Gonzalez (22:50), Clara Parris (24:50) and Bella Emery (34:42) completed the girls’ lineup.
The Wolverines will look to build on these performances as they continue their Blue Ridge Conference schedule on Sept. 16 at Hendersonville Middle School.
