–Warhorses take first place at Owen Invitational
20 September 2007By Zachary Colburn
Photos by Michael Painter
BLACK MOUNTAIN - September 19, 2007 - On a warm, sunny afternoon in late September under beautiful blue skies, the Asheville cross-country team thought this would be their day to defeat Owen and win the Invitational with their first two runners getting the top spots. Unfortunately Owen would place four runners in the top ten to beat the Cougars for the second straight week. Owen also edged Asheville in the Buncombe County Invitational last week.
"Indvidually it feels great to win the meet, but unfortuantely we didn’t win the team part of the meet." Said Asheville’s John Harwell and Isaac Presson on how they feel about finishing first and second respectively, but falling short of winning the meet
as a team. "Hopefully somewhere down the road we’ll get a chance to face them again."
"Indvidually it feels great to win the meet, but unfortuantely we didn’t win the team part of the meet." Said Asheville’s John Harwell and Isaac Presson on how they feel about finishing first and second respectively, but falling short of winning the meet as a team. "Hopefully somewhere down the road we’ll get a chance to face them again."
"Indvidually it feels great to win the meet, but unfortuantely we didn’t win the team part of the meet." Said Asheville’s John Harwell and Isaac Presson on how they feel about finishing first and second respectively, but falling short of winning the meet as a team. "Hopefully somewhere down the road we’ll get a chance to face them again."
Despite finishing fourth a week ago, Harwell had a strong start and finish to win the meet with a new course record time of 16:35. The next three spots were almost identical to the Buncombe County meet with Presson having to settle second place after finishing first last week. Carolina Day’s Davis Graham and Owen’s Chris Patino finished third and fourth about four seconds apart.
Mitchell’s Dakota Norris was the only runner not from Buncombe County to finish in the top 10, finishing fifth at 17:09. Asheville’s Logan Tarleton finished sixth, becoming the third Asheville High runner to 
finish in the top 10, but no other Cougar runner would finish in the top 15. Spots seven through nine went to Warhorse runners as Will Canon, Cody Neville and Robert Dobbs all finished within four seconds of each other. Roberson’s Brad Cookson would round out the top 10 with a time of 17:43.
With five Warhorse runners finishing in the top 15, they took the Invitational by 17 points over second place Asheville High. Roberson finished in third place with 95 points; no other team was within a hundred points of Roberson as Charlotte Country Day finished fourth with 205 points. Asheville Christian Academy rounded out the top five 
teams with 222 points.
"We worked real hard today but we still have alot of work to do." Said Owen coach John Cline on his teams’ second straight first place finish in consecutive weeks. "Our main focus is on team and it takes a team to win with each individual reaching their potential."
Individual Results- Top 15
- John Harwell- Asheville- 16:35
- Isaac Presson- Asheville- 16:38
- Davis Graham- Carolina Day- 16:49
- Chris Patino- Owen- 16:53
- Dakota Norris- Mitchell- 17:09
- Logan Tarleton- Asheville- 17:31
- Will Canon- Owen- 17:36
- Cody Neville- Owen- 17:39
- Robert Dobbs- Owen- 17:40
- Brad Cookson- Roberson- 17:43
- Sho Kitaamura- Roberson- 17:53
- Alex Kraak- Owen- 17:57
- John Spencer-Wolfe- Polk County- 18:16
- Matt Bryant- Asheville School- 18:17
- Ben Duval- Roberson- 18:20
Team Results
- Owen- 40
- Asheville- 57
- Roberson- 95
- Charlotte Country Day- 205
- ACA- 222
- Reynolds- 256
- Polk County- 269
- Enka- 280
- Hendersonville- 286
- Carolina Day- 290
- Asheville School- 310
- Mountain Heritage- 311
- Mitchell- 523
- North Buncombe- 562
- Tuscola- 603
- Avery- 701
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