
Polk County senior Caleb Potter captured the Western Highlands Conference cross country championship on Wednesday, pacing Wolverine efforts in the meet in Swannanoa.

Potter finished the meet in a time of 17:25, taking top honors by more than 38 seconds over runner-up Jeremiah Flores of Madison, to win the WHC meet for the second straight year.
Polk County freshman Olivia Overholt placed second in the girls conference race, won by Owen sophomore Hannah Larios. Overholt notched a time of 21:20.60.
The Wolverine girls narrowly missed a conference title, finishing just four points behind Owen. Polk County placed two other runners on the all-conference team in addition to Overholt, with Caelan Gaul finishing fifth in 22:32.90 and Taytem Johnson taking eighth in 23:10.80.
Also placing for the Wolverines were Madison Geddings, 12th in 23:46.10, and Amelia Nespeca, 14th in 24:25.00.
Other Polk County runners competing included:
* Lauren Dotson, 15th, 24:26.90
* Ashlyn Ramsey, 20th, 26:02.50
* Lacey Gosnell, 25th, 26:41.70
* Nathalie Ramirez, 33rd, 30:25.20
Eight of the nine runners for Polk County were either freshmen or sophomores, with Nespeca a junior.
The Polk County boys placed third, behind Owen and Madison, with Mark Teague placing 10th to join Potter on the all-conference team.
Jack Derkach came home 11th in a time of 19:08.40, with Bryce Thompson in 17th at 20:08.80 and Chris Rickman in 21st at 20:29.60.
Kiyon Staley finished 24th in 22:21.90 and Gus Maass was 26th in 22:20.10 for the Polk boys.
Owen placed five runners in the top nine spots to claim the team title.
The 1A West Regional will also be held on the Asheville Christian Academy course, that meet set for Oct. 27.
Western Highlands Conference - 10/17/2018 2018 Cross Country Championships Asheville Christian Academy Last Completed Event Event 2 Women 5k Run CC ============================================================ =========== Name Year School Finals Points ============================== ============================== =========== 1 Hannah Larios 10 Charles D. Owen 21:01.40 1 2 Olivia Overholt 9 Polk County 21:20.60 2 3 Laila Burk 10 Charles D. Owen 21:37.70 3 4 Maci Thomas 9 Mountain Heritage 22:27.30 4 5 Caelan Gaul 10 Polk County 22:32.90 5 6 Callie Aerni 9 Madison 22:45.70 7 Bailey Cantrell 11 Madison 23:02.60 8 Taytem Johnson 10 Polk County 23:10.80 6 9 Chloe Stiles 12 Charles D. Owen 23:24.50 7 10 Josie Naumowich 9 Avery County 23:25.60 8 11 Sophie Murphy 10 Charles D. Owen 23:38.90 9 12 Madison Geddings 10 Polk County 23:46.10 10 13 Ellery Parmenter 10 Charles D. Owen 24:01.30 11 14 Amelia Nespeca 11 Polk County 24:25.00 12 15 Lauren Dotson 9 Polk County 24:26.90 13 16 Emma Whitney 10 Charles D. Owen 24:42.80 14 17 Ava Yurchak 10 Charles D. Owen 25:07.10 15 18 Brook Cheuvront 9 Avery County 25:34.10 16 19 Alyssa Jamerson 12 Mountain Heritage 25:34.10 17 20 Ashlyn Ramsey 9 Polk County 26:02.50 18 21 Shiloh Branch 9 Mitchell 26:30.10 19 22 Tiffany Brocco 11 Avery County 26:30.40 20 23 Reagan Houchard 12 Mountain Heritage 26:31.20 21 24 Lillian Perez 10 Avery County 26:38.50 22 25 Lacey Gosnell 9 Polk County 26:41.70 26 Regan McKinney 12 Avery County 26:47.70 23 27 Josie Davis 12 Charles D. Owen 27:47.90 28 Penelope Brocco 10 Avery County 28:40.40 24 29 Brooke Wright 12 Avery County 28:43.50 25 30 Kaylan Stansberry 9 Mitchell 28:55.90 26 31 Lizzie Wilson 10 Mitchell 29:44.80 27 32 Caroline Atkins 12 Mitchell 29:45.60 28 33 Nathalie Ramirez 9 Polk County 30:35.20 34 Taylor Page 9 Avery County 30:53.00 35 Skyla Rule 9 Mountain Heritage 30:53.50 29 36 Kirsten Vanbrederode 11 Mitchell 34:22.40 30 37 Mikayla Silver 9 Avery County 34:31.70 38 Puthita Photak 12 Mountain Heritage 37:03.60 31 39 Evelyn Kline 11 Mitchell 37:28.90 32 40 Kelly Allison 9 Mountain Heritage 37:30.00 33 Team Scores ============================== ============================== ===================== Rank Team Total 1 2 3 4 5 *6 *7 *8 *9 ============================== ============================== ===================== 1 Charles D. Owen 31 1 3 7 9 11 14 15 Total Time: 1:53:43.80 Average: 22:44.76 2 Polk County 35 2 5 6 10 12 13 18 Total Time: 1:55:15.40 Average: 23:03.08 3 Avery County 89 8 16 20 22 23 24 25 Total Time: 2:08:56.30 Average: 25:47.26 4 Mountain Heritage 102 4 17 21 29 31 33 Total Time: 2:22:29.70 Average: 28:29.94 5 Mitchell 130 19 26 27 28 30 32 Total Time: 2:29:18.80 Average: 29:51.76
Western Highlands Conference - 10/17/2018 2018 Cross Country Championships Asheville Christian Academy Event 1 Men 5k Run CC ============================================================ =========== Name Year School Finals Points ============================== ============================== =========== 1 Caleb Potter 12 Polk County 17:25.00 1 2 Jeremiah Flores 12 Madison 18:03.90 2 3 Noah Lehman 10 Charles D. Owen 18:17.30 3 4 Elisha Barnette 11 Madison 18:22.70 4 5 Matthew Allen 12 Charles D. Owen 18:24.50 5 6 Hunter Snyder 12 Madison 18:39.30 6 7 Kyle Phillips 11 Charles D. Owen 18:49.70 7 8 Samuel Hey 10 Charles D. Owen 18:58.90 8 9 Gabriel Crockett 10 Charles D. Owen 19:02.20 9 10 Mark Teague 9 Polk County 19:05.50 10 11 Jack Derkach 12 Polk County 19:08.40 11 12 Parker Gautier 10 Avery County 19:10.00 12 13 Aidan Nalley 11 Charles D. Owen 19:20.00 13 14 Ethan Shell 9 Avery County 19:24.60 14 15 Truett Sawyer 12 Madison 20:06.60 15 16 Cole Doster 12 Charles D. Owen 20:07.20 16 17 Bryce Thompson 9 Polk County 20:08.80 17 18 Trevor Nail 10 Charles D. Owen 20:18.20 19 Jared Pressley 12 Charles D. Owen 20:23.90 20 Wise Freeborn 10 Mountain Heritage 20:24.30 18 21 Chris Rickman 10 Polk County 20:29.60 19 22 Shane Millner 12 Madison 20:43.40 20 23 Damon Street 12 Mountain Heritage 21:21.80 21 24 Kiyon Staley 11 Polk County 22:12.90 22 25 Jordan Buchan 9 Mountain Heritage 22:17.20 23 26 Gus Maass 9 Polk County 22:20.10 24 27 Elijah Cassida 9 Mountain Heritage 22:29.80 25 28 Chad Davie 10 Mountain Heritage 22:34.60 26 29 Noah Lewkowicz 9 Charles D. Owen 22:40.10 30 Devin Street 12 Mountain Heritage 22:42.00 27 31 Jeremiah Clark 9 Avery County 22:50.20 28 32 Alphonso Apolinar Mitchell 22:55.00 33 Braxton Buchanan 10 Avery County 23:07.40 29 34 Ian Cassida 12 Mountain Heritage 23:14.60 30 35 Zack Greer 10 Avery County 23:30.20 31 36 Samuel Murphy 10 Mountain Heritage 24:24.20 37 Mason Miller 10 Mountain Heritage 24:45.90 38 Lukus Clements 12 Charles D. Owen 24:56.90 39 Tyler White 11 Charles D. Owen 25:04.00 40 Christian Williams 11 Charles D. Owen 26:00.20 41 Ryan Argent 11 Mountain Heritage 26:59.10 42 Erik Fernandez 11 Mountain Heritage 28:26.60 43 Michael Argent 12 Mountain Heritage 33:53.60 44 Aden Laws 11 Mountain Heritage 33:56.40 45 Johnthan O'Sheilds 12 Mitchell 42:33.00 Team Scores ============================== ============================== ===================== Rank Team Total 1 2 3 4 5 *6 *7 *8 *9 ============================== ============================== ===================== 1 Charles D. Owen 32 3 5 7 8 9 13 16 Total Time: 1:33:32.60 Average: 18:42.52 2 Madison 47 2 4 6 15 20 Total Time: 1:35:55.90 Average: 19:11.18 3 Polk County 58 1 10 11 17 19 22 24 Total Time: 1:36:17.30 Average: 19:15.46 4 Mountain Heritage 113 18 21 23 25 26 27 30 Total Time: 1:49:07.70 Average: 21:49.54 5 Avery County 114 12 14 28 29 31 Total Time: 1:48:02.40 Average: 21:36.48