Wakefield cross country
A week after placing fifth at the 4-A Mideast Regional, Wakefield junior Mitch Mallory did one better at Saturday's NCHSAA 4-A state cross country meet capturing fourth with a time of 15:58.
Wakefield's Mallory places fourth at state meet
One by one Wakefield's Mitch Mallory pushed toward the front of the pack at Saturday's 4-A NCHSAA cross country state meet at Tanglewood, taking down one heavyweight runner after another.
Yet entering the homestretch, the junior said he didn't know exactly where he'd finish.
"I didn't even know where I was," he admitted. "I just ran it like it was the last race I'll ever run. And then I started passing people.
"There goes (Cary's) Mohamed (Abushouk), there goes (Broughton's) Reidy (Jones) and Pierre (Malherbe)."
With each name Mallory moved his head as if he was passing them again.
When the dust settled, Mallory captured fourth place with a time of 15:58, fewer than 12 seconds off East Forsyth's Patrick Crawford's state title pace.
The finish concludes a remarkable end-of-the-season run for Mallory, who placed third at the Cap-7 Conference championships three weeks ago, and fifth at the Mideast Regionals Oct. 31.
Yes, the Wolverine actually improved one spot on his regional performance at the state meet.
Entering Saturday, however, Mallory did two things: kept perspective and kept cool.
"I didn't think there was a chance I would finish fourth, I was just hoping for 10th," he shrugged as sweat turned his gray Wakefield jersey into a charcoal color.
Staying in a hotel in Winston-Salem the night before, Mallory arrived early at the race, signed in, and then conserved energy Saturday napping in the shade prior to the race.
And by the race's 2:30 p.m. start, Wakefield's lone representative at the meet was ready to run. But first Mallory needed to fight his way through the 130 racers careening into each other off the start.
"In the first few hundred meters it seemed like everybody ran past me and boxed me in," he recalled. "There was nothing I could do. And it's really intimidating to see this funnel of people you're supposed to run through."
By the second lap of the 5K course, however, Mallory worked his way into the leaders, and later crossed the finish line five steps behind the third-place finisher, Ronald Reagan's Jack Anderson. Green Hope's Bryan Spreitzer snagged second place.
"I just want to go out with a bang, and I told myself I didn't want to get beat by Broughton," Mallory laughed. "But there are a lot of fast guys here. I'm just happy I could race them."
As for how he'd celebrate his All-State performance, Mallory had it already planned out — party then sleep.
Well, the party wasn't his, it was actually his sister's birthday.
"I'm going to go, relax and eat a bunch of cake and ice cream," he smirked.
It's a sweet ending to Mallory's season.
