The Pinecrest girls and boys cross country teams defeated Lumberton and Richmond Senior in the Southeastern Conference tri-meet held at Britt Park in Lumberton Tuesday afternoon.

In a girls’ race that saw the first three runners disqualified for taking a wrong turn, the top seven runners for the Patriots were: Abby Middleton, third (23:57), Camille Ference, fourth (24:41), Amber Grace, fifth (24:46), Lexy Metzger, seventh (25:03), Alizabeth Bowlus, ninth (25:20), Courtney Devine, 10th (25:32), and Claire Fayssoux, 12th (26:17). Eleven out of the 17 runners for the Patriots posted a personal best time.

The Patriots boys took five of the first six places, led by Robert Anderson in first (17:03). He was followed by teammates Brandon Elliott, second, Graham Hawes, fourth, Tommy Delaunay, fifth and Nathan Pollard, sixth.

The team scores were: girls - Pinecrest 28, Lumberton 45, and Richmond Senior 61; boys – Pinecrest 18, Richmond 44 and Lumberton 85.

The Patriots boys and girls are participating in the Great American Cross Country Festival held at the Wake Med Park course in Cary on Saturday. Next Tuesday’s SEC meet will be run at the Elks Club course in Southern Pines. There will be a co-ed middle school race at 4 p.m., followed by the varsity boys’ race at 5 p.m. and the girls’ race at 5:30 p.m.

During halftime of last Friday night’s football game between Pinecrest and New Hanover, members of the Pinecrest cross country team presented a check of $5,100 to Operation One Voice represented by members of the Southern Pines Police and Fire Departments.

The mission of the organization founded and directed by fire and police department members is to provide severely wounded Special Operations soldiers with hand-cranked and specially fitted bicycles that aid in rehabilitation.

From these funds, specialized bikes will be provided for One Voice’s Wounded Special Operations Cycling Team that will serve as ambassadors to other wounded soldiers and encourage those heroes to get on the bike on the road to recovery.

Families and friends of the cross country team raised the funds as a part of the Patriot 5K Independence Day Race. Nearly half of the Pinecrest runners are dependents of active duty or retired military service members.