by Elizabeth Trautman
The Polk County Cross Country team had a wow of a meet Saturday, Sept. 29 in Morganton, N.C. at the Freedom High School Invitational. Most of the team placed personal best records for the season.
The men placed second in all of the 2A schools. This was Polk’s best finish since 1999.  Overall, between all 1A-4A divisions, Polk’s men placed 38th.
Jacob Collins led the 5K (3.1 miles) with a personal best of 17:35. Following him were Chip Collins and Sean Doyle at a close 18:24 and 18:26 respectively. The next three runners, Kyle Whitson, Jacob Wolfe and Jake Russell, placed within tenths of a second of one another, coming in at 19:02. All three marked personal best records. In addition, Eli Hall ran a personal best, timing in at 19:32.
Two of Polk County’s runners, Will Sachse and Conner O’Hearn, competed in the JV division, running 21:00 and 22:54 respectively.
Like the men’s runners, each of the Lady Wolverines completed the meet with their personal best scores. Shea Wheeler completed the 5K with a time of 23:53 and Nancy Silva completed with a time of 24:11. Leigh Deavor finished at 26:24, Rebecca Price at 32:41 and Jessica Bailey at 36:23.
Coach Alan Peoples, assistant coaches Jenny Wolfe and Cathy Elliot and volunteer coach Dewayne Elliot said they were pleased to see each runner set a personal best record. The ladies team is a young group, and the coaches said they expect they will each continue to mature as runners.