Published: 12:20 AM, Sun Sep 02, 2012
Terry Sanford's Philip Hall wins the Jungle Run
By Jaclyn Shambaugh
Staff writer
Philip Hall, sweating but able to talk without laboring, paused to sip some water at the finish line of the Jungle Run at South View High School on Saturday night.
But he didn't enjoy his water without interruption, as runner after runner lined up to shake his hand, congratulating the Terry Sanford sophomore on his easy win in the cross country race.
One racer couldn't help but admit, "I was watching you the whole time."
Hall took first place in 15:56.58, the only sub-16-minute finish in the field and nearly nine seconds ahead of second-place finisher Nikolaus Kreiling of Durham Jordan.
Hall cruised to victory, but said he wasn't completely satisfied with his performance.
"I'm happy with it, but I wish the time was a little faster," Hall said. "I don't feel like I've really been challenged yet."
Coach Al Munoz said he had hoped Hall would finish closer to the 15:40 mark.
"The first two miles, I think were run the way we wanted them to be," Munoz said. "The last mile, he knew had won the race, and that contributed to him slowing down.
Raleigh Millbrook won the boys' team championship, edging Winston-Salem Reynolds. Pinecrest took third, and South View was the highest Mid-South team, taking fourth place.
Controversial race
The girls' championship race featured the night's controversy, as four runners were disqualified, and then reinstated, after altering the course. South View boys' coach Jesse Autry, who coordinates the Jungle Run, drove a all-terrain vehicle to guide the lead runner along the course in each of the night's six races.
Autry said that even if those runners had lost sight of the ATV, as claimed by lead runner Chandler Borton of Reynolds, the course was marked with orange lines and that the responsibility of knowing the course falls on the coaches and their runners.
Reynolds' coach Ryan Solomon, a 2004 South View graduate who ran for Autry in his high school career, said that his runner wasn't to blame.
Solomon argued that, by the time Borton and the other disqualified racers recognized their error and backtracked to the course, they had run a longer course than originally marked.
That argument won over Autry and other local coaches, who determined that the girls should be reinstated.
"We've determined that there was no advantage gained," Autry said. "And in the spirit of the rules, it's the right thing to do to reinstate these girls."
Millbrook claimed the girls' team title. Leesville Road and Pinecrest rounded out the top three.
Boys' individual results
Philip Hall, Terry Sanford, 15:56.58
Nikolaus Kreiling, Durham Jordan, 16:05.05
Daniel Beamer, Durham Jordan, 16:17.30
Collin Loy, Southern Alamance, 16:18.08
Dustin Sneed, Winston-Salem Reynolds, 16:22.21
Boys' team
Raleigh Millbrook
Winston-Salem Reynolds
Pinecrest
South View
Durham Jordan
Girls' individuals results
Chandler Borton, Winston-Salem Reynolds, 19:04.00
Arden Vessie, Corinth Holders, 19:08.00
Indy Reid-Shaw, Orange, 19.10.00
Callie Wynn, West Davidson, 19.20.00
Kerry Leonard, Wilmington Laney, 19.38.84
Girls' team results
Raleigh Millbrook
Leesville Road
Pinecrest
Winston-Salem Reynolds
Wilmington Laney
Staff writer Jaclyn Shambaugh can be reached at 609-0651 or shambaughj@fayobserver.com.