Eight

members of the Fayette Flash track team made their mark

recently at the USATF National Cross Country

Championships in Spartanburg, S.C.

Kirsten

Pretzer survived two falls in her run to finish 121st in

the Bantam Girls division with a time of 13:48.33 for the

3,000-meter course, and Melissa Anderson led the midget

girls team to an 18th place finish in the team

championship. Anderson ran her best time of the year with

a 17:08.9 for the 4,000-meter course, finishing 113th

overall.

Catie

Phillips finished 194th with a time of 20:06.04. Jessica

Weaver, Heather Bowman, Lisa Meeder and Kathleen Richards

rounded out the only Flash team to make it to the finals.

Ben Brantly

ran with the leaders in the Youth Boys race for the first

mile, clocking a 4:59 along the way. This pace took its

toll however, as Brantly eventually finished 100th with a

time of 14:29.26 for the 4,000-meter course.

Coaches

Bill Anderson and David Leonard were pleased with the

Flash's season. In only the third year of the program, 47

boys and girls signed up to run.

The team is

a feeder program for the local high school cross country

programs, with several former athletes competing at a

high level for Starr's Mill, Sandy Creek and McIntosh.

The eight

members of the team that ran in the nationals gained

invaluable experience and now know what competing on a

national level is all about, said the coaches.