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The Davie cross country team opened its season at Charlotte’s McAlpine Park on Saturday. The War Eagles were among 54 registered schools from across the Carolinas and Tennessee and turned in several outstanding performances. Both Davie squads competed in the Invitational Division as the boys battled a field of 211 finishers representing 28 full and several partial teams.

The boys’ race came down to the wire as host Providence narrowly outdueled Davie for the team title, 80-86. James Island of South Carolina was a single point back and claimed third place with 87 points.

The individual race was dominated by runners in orange and black as Davie senior Thomas Essic cruised to victory in a time of 16:14, a mere two seconds off of his personal record time for the 5k distance. Junior teammate Ethan Lakey grabbed the runner-up spot with a time of 16:26, which was a five-second PR. Junior Brayden Kistner was 18th in 17:32, which was his all-time best performance by 13 seconds. Fellow junior Logan Zuleger turned in a 31-second PR as he claimed 25th in 17:44. Senior Tyler Hill rounded out the scoring with a 40th-place showing in 18:10.

Sophomore Jacob Steelman improved on his previous best time by 14 seconds as he crossed the line in 49th place with a time of 18:24. Junior Jackson Sulecki nabbed 60th as his time of 18:38 was a 22-second PR. Senior Chris Devicente joined Sulecki in breaking 19:00 for the first time with a time of 18:55. That mark was a 24-second PR and was good for 71st.

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The Davie girls did not register a team score as they only had four finishers. Junior Lexi Marion led the way with a time of  21:00, which was a new personal best time by 21 seconds. Freshman Rachel Starkey made her debut a memorable one as she was the second Davie runner across the line as she placed 59th in 23:17. Junior Isabella Schilling turned in a six-second PR as her time of 25:53 landed her in 116th place, one spot ahead of sophomore teammate Kinsley Shinsky, who finished in  25:54.

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In the JV races, sophomore  Patrick Brady turned in a huge PR of 21:18, which was 1:12 better than his previous fastest time. Tyler Deaver (22:22), Ty Greene (22:37) and Ronin Dailey (25:32) also competed for the War Eagles. In the girls’ race, sophomore Cheyenne Waller ran her first ever cross country 5k as she finished in 29:36. Other Davie runners were Alexa Villa (33:57) and Maggie Smith (34:16).

“We did some good things today,” said coach Rob Raisbeck. “Our goal is to run well in late October and November at the championship races so we use these early season invitationals to work on race tactics and see where we are compared to the other teams we will be competing with as we try to qualify for states. The main thing we wanted to do today was to run as a pack and help each other in the race as much as possible. I think the guys did a god job of executing that strategy.

“It was a lot of fun to see two of our guys take the top two spots in the race. Thomas and Ethan are training at a very high level right now.  The rest of our varsity guys have taken a cue from our veterans and are also training hard. We still need a little more consistency out of a few guys, but with school starting I think the team will continue to come together. We had seven PR’s out of our top nine today, so that is really positive. It is easier to get the team to buy into our training regimen when they can see they are getting faster.

“Our girls did some good things as well, although our numbers continue to be down. Lexi ran a very strong race and she is healthy now after having some issues last year, which affected her training. Rachel, Isabella and Kinsley had good efforts. We will get one of our top five back in the lineup for the next race and that will give us a boost. All in all it was a positive start to the season and Saturday’s performance gives us something to build on.”

Next up for the Davie runners is the Friday Night Lights meet Sept. 6 at Kernersville’s Ivey Redmon Park. Over 100 schools will be present with the Davie boys running in the event’s championship race under the lights at 9:40.