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The Davie cross country team wrapped up a historic season at the state championship meet at Kernersville’s Ivey Redmon Park on Nov. 2. Thomas Essic cemented his legacy as perhaps the top cross country runner in War Eagle history with a ninth-place finish and first team all-state recognition by virtue of his top-10 finish.
Essic cruised through the first mile among a large pack of the state’s elite runners with a split time of 4:52. Halfway through the 5k race, Essic was still among the leaders and passed the two-mile mark at 10:00. With a mile to go in the 3.1-mile race, a group of three runners surged to the front and the race was on at that point. Essic fell to the rear of the lead pack and found himself in 12th with a little over a kilometer to go before regrouping and surging over the last half-mile. The Davie senior sprinted down the home stretch and crossed the line in a time of 15:42 to secure all-state honors.
Asheville’s Michel Haskin was the individual champion with a time of 15:21. Riverside teammates Philip Blum (15:23) and Connor Tyrell (15:31) took the next two spots. The CPC again showed why it is among the strongest conferences in the state as Reynolds’ Cedar Nichols-Barnhart (15:33) and Reagan’s Tate Shore (15:33) nailed down the fifth and sixth spots. Essic’s ninth-place showing gave the CPC three of the 10 all-state spots, the only conference in the state to accomplish that feat.
Marvin Ridge parlayed its senior-driven lineup to successfully defend its team title with 68 points to easily outdistance runner-up Broughton (96). Hoggard placed third with 159. CPC rivals Reagan (12th), Mt. Tabor (13th) and Reynolds (17th) all turned in top-20 finishes.
Davie was not represented in the girls’ race, which was won by Cardinal Gibbons (62), followed by Cuthbertson (136) and Marvin Ridge (153). Asheville made it a clean sweep of the individual titles as Sofi Alexander (18:01) raced to a one-second victory over Ragsdale’s Elle Dawson. Hoggard’s Amelia Medlin was third (18:09).
“It was a great day for our program,” said coach Rob Raisbeck. “Our goal was for Thomas to place in the top 10 and be named all-state. He ran a tremendous race and pulled it off. He stayed out of trouble and got out fast. I could not be more pleased with his effort. It was also the best performance by a Davie cross country runner over the last 30 years and possibly the best ever. I know we had some great runners in the 1970’s before the current state meet set-up. The last Davie runner to have this kind of success would have been Garick Hill, who finished 11th at states in 1997.
“Looking back on the season, we did some really good things. Our team average time of 16:48 is probably the best in Davie history. We will certainly miss Thomas as he graduates, but we will return our 2-6 runners. We have a chance to be pretty good again next year. With realignment and the move to eight classifications instead of the current four, that should increase our chances of getting into the state meet as a full team.
“Moving forward, we will have some of our team race the Dash For Doobie 3200 meter track race at Reagan. And we will have a few race at the Foot Locker South Regional at McAlpine Park after Thanksgiving. That is one of four regional meets nationwide which make up the mythical national high school cross country championship for individuals. Beyond that, we will be transitioning to indoor track and we look forward to welcoming back our sprinters and field event athletes. Finally, I want to thank Leah Reynolds and Jeff Jones for the tireless work coaching our team and also our parents who continue to support us in too many ways to count. I look forward to the next challenge ahead for our team.”