Franklin Runs Past King Philip in Cross Country Opener

King Philip got off to a great start in both the boys and girls cross country meets, but Franklin was just too much for the Warrior runners and was able to sweep the home team. 

Running the three-mile course at Wrentham’s Rice Fields, Franklin dominated the girls meet with a 15-49 win, while the boys eked out a 27-33 victory in the first race of the Hockomock League season.

In the boys race, King Philip’s Chris Allen, a first-year cross country runner, jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Allen crossed the finish line with a time of 15:39, 50 seconds ahead of Franklin’s Andrew Hood.

“Chris knew that Andrew was a quality runner and wanted to find out what he had so he tested him early in the race,” KP Coach Julie Nievergelt said. “He pressed him on the first hill [at the quarter-mile mark of the first lap] and then dropped him opening up his lead.”

KP’s Owen Gonser finished third with a time of 16:58, a mere 12 seconds behind Hood, while David Logan grabbed fifth place with a time of 17:36.  Austin Gatcomb crossed the finish line in eleventh place.

Unlike the boys race, the girls had a six pack of athletes running the entire first lap together. Although King Philip’s Stacey Wojcik was the lead runner, the other five runners all hailed from Franklin. At the half way point of the race, four out of five Panthers were able to overcome Wojcik. The KP runner fell to fourth with a time of 21:08; Alex Geiss won the race for Franklin 

Katie Lukes, Kim McCarty and Sophia Raia completed the race in eighth, tenth and twelfth places, respectively.

“Franklin has a really good group of girl runners,” the KP coach said. “Stacey is not in top shape yet, and just couldn’t stay with them down the stretch. These girls did great today and I see them being competitive in the league and improving a lot as the season progresses.”

KP will travel to Attleboro next Tuesday afternoon.