DANVILLE, Va. – The Galileo Magnet High School Cross Country team hosted the Southside XC Invitational at Anglers Park in Danville Wednesday, besting eight other high school track teams to win the meet.
Temperatures Wednesday soared into the mid-90’s, but the heat didn’t stop the 57 boys and 45 girls from crossing their first finish line of the season.
In the boys’ race, Asa Fletcher, a sophomore at Dan River High School, finished first with a time of 17:57. Fletcher, the defending 2A state champion in the 1600 made his move to the front with just over a half mile remaining to distance himself from second place finisher Charles Hearp of Tunstall. Galileo then packed in four consecutive runners: Jackson Herndon, Dylan Kirk, Jamison Mantooth, and Cole Harbodin to finish third through sixth respectively. The top freshman finisher in the boys competition also wore the Galileo uniform. Jack Lingle’s 11th place finish for Galileo was 41 seconds ahead of the second freshman finisher, Greyson Harris of Tunstall. Tunstall’s six medalists in the boys race was one higher than Galileo, but the Galileo Falcons edged the second place Trojans of Tunstall in the final standings by a score of 29 to 45 to win the meet.
In the girls’ competition, Sophia Hearp of Tunstall and Carol-Anne Garrett of Galileo traded leads late in the race before Hearp emerged victorious with a time of 23 minutes and 52 seconds. Garrett was the first of eight Galileo runners to win medals. The young Galileo team that followed Garrett’s path to the medal stand included Rowan Kirk (4th), Ava Wray (5th), Natalie Owen (8th), Camila Rodriguez (10th), Maya Herndon (11th), Sophia Markowitz (13th) and Sarah Garrett (14th). Herndon and Markowitz were the top two freshman finishers in the girls competition and were instrumental in Galileo’s decisive win over runner-up Halifax County.
Galileo appears to be poised to win their 4th consecutive girls region championship and third consecutive boys region championship. Tunstall’s Sophia Hearp will also look to get back to the state championship in her final cross country campaign. Meanwhile, Asa Fletcher looks like he will become a local multi-sport legend and will be the cornerstone of the Wildcats program for the next three years. Fletcher will certainly be among the favorites to win the individual title in the Boys 2A finale come November.