O’Neal junior Savannah Merritt continued her run at the school’s cross country record for girls Wednesday in a meet held in Wilmington.

Merritt used “animal tenacity,” according to Falcon coach Josh Roberts, in finishing second in a time of 21:59. She is now only 22 seconds away from the school’s record, Roberts said. The Falcon girls placed fourth, with 91 points, out of five schools competing in the Cape Fear Independent Conference meet. Cape Fear Academy took the win with 39 points.

Led by senior runners Alexander Waddell and Austin Puleo, the Falcons finished third in the boys’ race. Fayetteville Christian finished first overall, with 45 points.

Puleo finished fourth in a time of 18:39. Eighth-grade star Josh Russell came in next for O’Neal in 16th (21:10), while Alexander Waddell (21:44) and Matt Hutchens (21:55) crossed the line in 18th and 20th, respectively. Hutch was followed by Josh Hager in 26th with a 22:59 to round out the scoring for the Falcons.

Joining Merritt in recording points for the Falcon girls were Hunter Atkinson (19th, 27:20), Bronti Viskovich (20th, 27:21), Aleksandra Majka (24th, 28:17) and Allison Johnson (26th, 28:35). Other Falcon girls competing were Elizabeth Trexler (27th, 28:47), Megan Bloom (37th, 32:12) and Lara Allen (42nd, 35:42).

Other Falcon boys that competed were Tomi Lawal (30th, 23:25), Kyle Flechsig (33rd, 24:13), Dakota Merritt (42nd, 26:35), Hans Johnson (48th, 27:45), Alex Stroud (52nd, 29:36) and T.C. Mann (54th, 31:09).