Greenies Go Low at Great American Cross Country Festival


Andrew Hammel '20
Andrew Hammel '20.

WakeMed Soccer Park is known for being a fast course. Andrew Hammel ’20 and Joseph Visconti '20 did nothing to shatter that belief Saturday.

Christ School’s senior team captains took advantage of the friendly 3.1-mile layout and cool weather to run personal-record times at the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, N.C.

Andrew covered the WakeMed course in 15 minutes, 31.80 seconds to place 34th in the Race of Champions division. Joseph (15:39.80) was close behind in 52nd place. Andrew's time is the fastest in Christ School history for a 5-kilometer race. He previously ran 15:39.58 in a 2017 postseason meet. As a tandem, Andrew and Joseph are the first runners from any western North Carolina high school to break 15:40 in the same race.

Shortly after Andrew and Joseph were done, Christ School lined up a full team for Saturday’s Town of Cary (N.C.) Invitational Boys, Seeded 5K.

Freshman Rocky Hansen ‘23 (32nd place, 16:19.00) took 21 seconds off his personal-best time. Other runners for the Greenies were Dawson Reeves ‘24 (99th, 17:04.10), Ethan Kemp ‘21 (224th, 18:33.60), Tommy Schleusner ‘20 (226th, 18:36.50), Jack Cross ‘22 (238th, 18:54.80), Carson Guzzo ‘22 (246th, 19:20.70), and Miles Gardner ‘20 (249th, 19:32.00).

In all, six of the nine runners that Christ School took to Cary logged season-best times.

Hammel and Visconti
Joseph Visconti '20 and Andrew Hammel '20.