On Tuesday, October 15th Apex High School hosted the 2024 SWAC XC Championship at Wakemed Soccer Park. The gator runners were given the opportunity to run at this meet and didn’t take it for granted. Both the girls varsity and JV teams placed first in their races. While both of the boys teams made their first top ten appearance.

Four runners on the girls teams made all-conference; Neela Chintapalli, Sayde Wortman, and Delaney Coleman made first team all-conference. In addition, Naomi Greengrass made second team all conference. Neela Chintapalli, who broke the school record, shared her thoughts on the race and how she managed to race well. “I had motivational words and phrases on my hands and arms as a reminder for when the race got hard. My entire mindset throughout the race was to stick with my teammates, so then it will feel more like practice. It made me feel very relaxed and comfortable, allowing me to place third.” Chintapalli, Wortman, and Coleman all finished within ten seconds of each other. The overall split for Green Levels top five finishers was a mere fifty seven seconds, allowing the girls team to absolutely crush the competition and finish first overall.

Two runners on the boys teams made all-conference; Nick Morizio and Mohammed Mohammed made the first team all-conference. Both runners finished within seconds of each other, utilizing pack running throughout the race. 

Head Coach Barish was awarded coach of the year at the SWAC XC Championship. It was her first year as the head coach for cross country. Coach Barish feels that receiving the award “was very humbling and exciting.” However, she believes that it was the athletes’ hard work that got the award. Coach Barish explained how the success of the training throughout the season was solely based on the athletes’ efforts. She explained, “I think the whole coaching staff feels we give a blueprint and tools, but it’s on the kids to put that together and put the work in. The athletes should be proud of what they have accomplished.” 

This meet marked the end of season for most runners on the team. However, select varsity runners will be continuing to train in order to compete at the upcoming regional meet.