Negotiating the hills and dales of the rugged 5K course at the Elks Club is never an easy task for high school runners. Craig Baggett for the Pinecrest boys and Sarah Lindsay Pressley of the Patriot girls had a lot easier time of it than the rest of the field.

Baggett, a senior, finished first with a time of 17:55 as the Patriot boys took nine of the first 10 places in the second Southeastern Conference cross country tri-meet of the season. Scotland County and Purnell Swett were the other teams competing.

Finishing second, more than a half a minute behind Baggett, was teammate Dalton Allen (18:28). The rest of the first five included Landon Sherwood (18:50) and Jacob Allen (18:53) of Pinecrest and Tyler Baker (19:20) of Purnell Swett.

The next five to finish the race were Jared Walters (19:23), Tyler Clark (19:30), Nathan Frederique (19:35), George Hayes (20:27) and Graham Hawes (20:29), all Patriots. The team scores were, Pinecrest 16, Purnell Swett 49 and Scotland 81.

On an afternoon that many of the regulars for the Pinecrest girls were being rested up for Saturday's Wolfpack Invitational at N.C. State, Pressley (23:50) finished more than a minute and a half ahead of fellow freshman teammate Kara Zoellner (25:22).

The Patriot girls took 10 of the first 11 places. Lauren Bonville (25:23) and Courtney Bartlett (26:16) grabbed the third and fourth spots for the home team. Barbara Horne (26:20) of Scotland finished fifth. The sixth through 11th places went to Katana Lemelin (26:21), Hayden Rudd (26:27), Jennie Eastman (27:03), Laura Ott (27:51), Kelly Godwin (27:57) and Kasey Spry (28:09).

The Pinecrest girls finished with 16 points and Scotland had 47. Purnell Swett did not have a girls' squad.

Next Tuesday's conference meet will be held at Purnell Swett.