Parry McCluer High School senior Kebryl Chandler won his third consecutive Region 1C title to lead the Fighting Blues' boys cross country team to its fourth straight regional championship on Tuesday afternoon at Blacksburg High School.
With three runners in the top seven, the Blues scored 37 points to edge runner-up Auburn (39), which placed three harriers in the top nine. George Wythe (79) placed third of seven teams, while Eastern Montgomery (103) and Galax (120) rounded out the top five. Completing the standings were Grayson County (126) and Narrows (164).
Chandler completed the hilly 5-kilometer course in 15 minutes, 40.28 seconds. EM junior Grayson Welcher finished a distant second of 55 harriers in 16:16.45.
PM’s second runner was junior Caleb Cooper, placing third in 16:43.42, just ahead of Auburn’s top runner, senior Blake Brown (fourth, 16:46.39).
Junior Sebastian George was the Blues’ third runner, finishing seventh in 18:12.72, and senior teammate Sam Carpenter came in 15th in 19:00. Also cracking the top 20 was PM sophomore Matthew Cooper (17th, 19:27.98). The Blues’ final two harriers were sophomores Victor Poluikis (47th, 24:37.42) and Seven Medina (48th, 24:42.12).
From the regional meet, the top three teams and the top five individuals outside of those teams advanced to the Class 1 state meet, which will take place on Saturday, Nov. 7 at Green Hill Park in Salem, with the boys’ race at 1:15 p.m.
The Blues will be attempting to win their fourth consecutive state title, while Chandler will be aiming to repeat as the individual state champion.
The story on the regional meet will be in our Nov. 4 newspaper, and the story on the Blues’ victory in the Pioneer District meet will be in our Oct. 28 newspaper.
