CARY, N.C. – A momentous day for a program which is on the rise not only statewide and regionally, but nationally.
Christ School cross country continued its undefeated season by winning Saturday afternoon's Nike Cross Regionals (NXR) Southeast championship for the first time with 72 points.
The team was led individually by the running of Brooks Barbee ’27 (11th place, 15:16.60), Dallas Reeves ’27 (18th, 15:20.30), Jack Dennehy ’27 (24th, 15:27.20), Reynolds Young ’27 (32nd, 15:32.00), Brody Webb ’27 (65th, 15:49.40), Noah Clancy ’26 (74th, 15:53.80), and Timmy McDowell ’27 (168th, 16:38.50).
With their victory, the Greenies punched their ticket for the NXR Nationals, which is the first weekend back from Thanksgiving Break – December 6 in Portland.
"We have a really good group of guys here, obviously, so we decided if we could do everything we've done all season, we'd be fine today. We were able to put something together that was really special," Brooks said.
"It means the world. We had a preseason meeting and (Coach Randy Ashley) said this was our top goal for the year. It means so much, and I know it means to world to all these guys, it's really special. We're going to go for the highest spot possible because we have a special group. We're just really excited to see what we can do."
Saturday’s coronation in Cary occurred less than an hour after alumnus and Wake Forest University junior Rocky Hansen '23 came in second place in the NCAA meet, running a time of 28 minutes, 38 seconds for the 10K race in Columbia, Mo.
Rocky led for much of Saturday’s race and was otherwise undefeated in his college races this fall. He was a 10-time individual state champion in his distance career at Christ School.
The one common denominator in Saturday's success is Coach Ashley, who has been with the Greenies since 2016 and guided them to three state championships in the past five years, including this season’s NCISAA 4-A title.