Chargers Own Their Home Course: Women Runners-Up, Men Fourth at Region 3-4A Championship
LAKE WYLIE, S.C., Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026. On Sept. 26, the Chargers raced the Victory Bolt Invitational on their home course. On Thursday they brought the region to the same trails and showed how far they've come. The women's varsity finished second, the men's varsity took fourth, and both JV squads finished in the top three. Lake Wylie ran 15 lifetime PRs and 17 season bests. Most telling of all, 31 of the Chargers' 47 finishers ran faster than they did at Victory Bolt on the same course, and six more raced it for the first time.
Women's varsity second
The Chargers women came in with a real shot at the region title and finished second with 70 points, behind Nation Ford (51). They were ahead of Catawba Ridge (75), Clover (90), South Pointe (97) and Indian Land (121).
Zoë Miller (So.) led the way with her fastest race of the season. She finished fourth in 19:46.70, a season best by 21.07 seconds, and earned All-Region honors as a top-seven finisher. Behind her, the Chargers' second through fifth runners finished within about 27 seconds of each other:
Makenna Young (Jr.), 13th, 21:18.79 (PR)
Eva Quintana (Fr.), 16th, 21:38.00 (season best)
June Woodard (8th), 18th, 21:41.88
Madeline Bessman (Jr.), 19th, 21:45.85
Annalise Taylor (Jr.) (22:25.21) and Evelyn Blackmon (Fr.) (23:09.16) rounded out the top seven.
Six of the eight varsity women beat their Victory Bolt times. June Woodard was 57.01 seconds faster on the same course, Annalise Taylor 55.85 seconds faster and Madeline Bessman 51.84 seconds faster.
Men's varsity fourth on a tiebreak
South Pointe won the men's race with 35 points, followed by Nation Ford (51) and Catawba Ridge (74). Lake Wylie and close friends Clover both scored 122, and the tie came down to the sixth runners. Owen Vanourny (So.) finished 39th among team runners, two spots ahead of Clover's sixth (41st), to give the Chargers fourth. Clover's seventh runner was ahead of Lake Wylie's, 42nd to 45th, but the tiebreak goes to the sixth runner.
Maitland Vanourny (So.) led the men in 13th (16:57.84). Wesley Rowland (Jr.) ran a PR of 17:23.71 for 18th, and Gavin Burton (Jr.) was 24th (17:54.15). William Kolodziej (Jr.) (18:18.74), Sahij Gill (Jr.) (18:20.27) and Owen Vanourny (18:38.56) followed, and James Galbraith (So.) ran a PR of 19:03.46.
The men's progress on their home course was striking. Six of the seven varsity men who also ran Victory Bolt were faster on Thursday, and their median improvement was 46.6 seconds. Among runners from other teams who raced both meets, the median improvement was 6.5 seconds. Gill cut 1:27.09 off his Victory Bolt time, Kolodziej 1:17.68 and Galbraith 56.30 seconds. Galbraith ran the JV race at Victory Bolt.
JV: women second, men third
The women's JV finished second with 68 points, behind Nation Ford (20). Seventh grader Alexa Morrissey led the Chargers in third place (25:56.92) to earn a JV medal. Samantha Brett (8th) ran 6:06.41 faster than at Victory Bolt, and Stephanie Ammon (8th) 1:24.86 faster.
The men's JV was third with 60, behind South Pointe (35) and Catawba Ridge (47). Thomas Kane (So.) ran a PR of 19:35.96 for fifth, and Liam Roberts (Fr.) was 10th in 20:03.85, both earning JV medals. Sixteen of the 20 men's JV runners who also ran Victory Bolt were faster on Thursday. Their median improvement was 54.6 seconds, against 12.9 seconds for runners from other teams who raced both. Alex Laney (Fr.) was 3:23.29 faster than his Victory Bolt time, Liam Heath (Fr.) 2:46.66 and Rafael Gomez (Fr.) 1:57.39. All 12 of the sub-varsity season bests were also lifetime PRs.
Five days after County
The Chargers raced the York County Championship at Catawba Bend Preserve just five days earlier, and several still beat their County times outright. Liam Heath was 1:04.52 faster than at County and Silas Althoff (Fr.) 57.70 seconds faster. On the varsity side, Sahij Gill was 35.39 seconds faster, Zoë Miller 23.59 seconds, James Galbraith 19.51 seconds and Wesley Rowland 12.49 seconds. As teams, both varsity squads' top-five averages landed within four seconds of their County marks. They matched their County effort, and the watches suggest Region may have been the better race.
How the field fared
South Pointe swept the varsity individual titles. Libba Faircloth (Sr.) won the women's race in 18:43.82, and Reece Adams (Sr.) won the men's race in 16:05.39, a career best by 6.76 seconds per his MileSplit results, leading South Pointe to the men's team title. Nation Ford won the women's team title.
Of the 241 runners who finished on the Lake Wylie course Thursday, 73 (30%) ran lifetime PRs, and another 20 ran 2026 season bests. South Pointe had the highest PR rate, with PRs from 16 of its 34 finishers (47%). Lake Wylie had 15 PRs from 47 finishers (32%). Across the field, the median runner finished about 9 seconds slower than their 2026 season best.
Team | Finishers | PRs | % PR | % PR or SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
South Pointe | 34 | 16 | 47.1 | 50.0 |
York | 12 | 5 | 41.7 | 41.7 |
Lake Wylie | 47 | 15 | 31.9 | 36.2 |
Catawba Ridge | 55 | 17 | 30.9 | 40.0 |
Indian Land | 27 | 8 | 29.6 | 51.9 |
Nation Ford | 31 | 8 | 25.8 | 32.3 |
Clover | 35 | 4 | 11.4 | 22.9 |
Other schools' PRs and season bests per public MileSplit results; Lake Wylie per team records. One runner's history could not be verified.
Personal records, biggest drop first
Rafael Gomez (Fr.), 25:23.72 (−1:57.39)
Matt Brabham (7th), 22:37.86 (−1:46.85)
Leila Linnett (So.), 29:02.97 (−1:36.42)
Liam Heath (Fr.), 21:22.17 (−1:04.52)
Samantha Brett (8th), 36:15.91 (−57.94)
Alex Laney (Fr.), 30:23.35 (−44.16)
Anderson Fillmore (8th), 22:05.53 (−28.67)
Katharine Nielsen (7th), 29:27.79 (−27.81)
Silas Althoff (Fr.), 20:39.10 (−20.34)
James Galbraith (So.), 19:03.46 (−19.51)
Makenna Young (Jr.), 21:18.79 (−13.00)
Wesley Rowland (Jr.), 17:23.71 (−11.89)
Thomas Kane (So.), 19:35.96 (−8.60)
Grady Dineen (8th), 22:16.06 (−2.98)
Oliver Markowski (7th), 21:41.02 (−1.38)
Varsity medalists (top 14; the top 7 are All-Region)
Women
Libba Faircloth (Sr.), South Pointe, 18:43.82
Haley Garcia (Sr.), Nation Ford, 19:22.00
Karson Woodring (Jr.), Nation Ford, 19:42.73
Zoë Miller (So.), Lake Wylie, 19:46.70
Ella Hopkins (Jr.), South Pointe, 20:13.66
Olivia Gillespie (Jr.), Catawba Ridge, 20:19.45
Dorothy Artley (Jr.), Catawba Ridge, 20:57.47
Nadia Andrews (Sr.), Clover, 21:07.70
Madison Frazier (Jr.), Nation Ford, 21:10.98
Karley Johnson (Jr.), Catawba Ridge, 21:15.00
Charleigh Moore (So.), Indian Land, 21:15.41
Eden Bryant (Fr.), South Pointe, 21:16.54
Makenna Young (Jr.), Lake Wylie, 21:18.79
Lily Kanbr (8th), Clover, 21:27.61
Men
Reece Adams (Sr.), South Pointe, 16:05.39
Ryan Pierson (Sr.), Catawba Ridge, 16:11.73
Hunter Willis (So.), South Pointe, 16:17.85
Sparsh Vaghani (Fr.), Nation Ford, 16:25.64
Ellis Spencer (Sr.), York, 16:37.81
Chase Hensley (Sr.), Clover, 16:42.29
Gray Shelton (So.), South Pointe, 16:45.91
Copeland Crawford (Jr.), South Pointe, 16:46.55
Alejandro Luna (Fr.), Nation Ford, 16:50.83
Robert Saddler (Sr.), Nation Ford, 16:51.26
Alex Royall (Jr.), Nation Ford, 16:51.46
William Kowalski (Jr.), Catawba Ridge, 16:57.73
Maitland Vanourny (So.), Lake Wylie, 16:57.84
Mitchell Bergman (Sr.), Indian Land, 17:12.24
JV medalists (top 10)
Women
Megan McGovern (So.), Nation Ford, 22:44.60
Isla Clark (So.), Nation Ford, 24:35.00
Alexa Morrissey (7th), Lake Wylie, 25:56.92
Lily Kate Millar (So.), Nation Ford, 26:01.62
Mya Vanderkolk (Fr.), Nation Ford, 26:17.55
Caroline Berent (So.), Indian Land, 26:19.66
Sophia Ramsey (Jr.), Indian Land, 26:29.69
Aubrey Deleon (Sr.), Nation Ford, 26:37.62
Parker Hall (Fr.), South Pointe, 26:58.09
Isabelle Bremner (Sr.), Indian Land, 27:11.24
Men
Holden Frazier (8th), South Pointe, 18:45.24
Jett Shelton (Sr.), South Pointe, 19:21.59
Owen Sibley (Sr.), Catawba Ridge, 19:21.74
Jordan Combs (So.), Catawba Ridge, 19:30.03
Thomas Kane (So.), Lake Wylie, 19:35.96
Asher Clemente (7th), Nation Ford, 19:36.06
Ryan Hemphill (So.), South Pointe, 19:36.81
Hudson Hix (7th), Catawba Ridge, 19:51.96
Jackson Hurst (Fr.), South Pointe, 19:57.81
Liam Roberts (Fr.), Lake Wylie, 20:03.85
Thank you
Thank you to the Lake Wylie Parents Committee and every volunteer who helped the Chargers host the region championship, and to the region schools for racing at Lake Wylie.
The run ahead
Next up is the South Pointe Last Chance Meet on Saturday, Oct. 31. Then comes the Nov. 7 state qualifier, where both the men's and women's teams will chase the first state championship berth in Lake Wylie cross country history, in the school's inaugural year. Believe in the unbelievable.
Let's go, Lake Wylie Chargers! ⚡️
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