Watauga seeks a 4A sweep

Source: The Charlotte Observer, Saturday - Nov. 11, 1995

By Brett Honeycutt, Special Correspondent

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Watauga High continues to work itself into a well-respected state power in boys and girls cross country. Coming into today's 4A state championships at 10 a.m. at Charlotte's McAlpine Park, things look a lot like last year when Watauga runners won the boys and girls individual titles and the boys won the state team title. The boys team lost last year's individual winner, Will Hodges, and three other seniors. But the girls only lost one to graduation and return a strong team. At last year's state championhsips, the boys won by 74 points over East Mecklenburg and 79 over Providence behind the first-place finish of Hodges in 15 minutes 38.9 seconds. "I just couldn't believe that when we won by that many points," Watauga coach Randy McDonough said. "I can't see that this year." The girls placed fourth in a tight team race, where five points separated the top four schools, with West Forsyth winning the team title. Watauga's Addie Bower was the individual winner in 18:44.4. No 4A school has won girls and boys titles in the same year since Chapel Hill did it in 1980 and 1981. Providence's boys look strong, especially after placing four runners in the top 10 at last Friday's 4A Mid-West Regional. The Panthers come in with hopes of winning the first team state title in school history. "They've surprised us lately," McDonough said. "Just lately we've been noticing their times have been coming down." "They're a different team than what we saw at Wake Forest," he added. "Whoever has their best day could win the state championships. We've got a lot of respect for Providence." The girls team race looks to be as tight as last year's. McDonough said that several top teams -- West Forsyth, Leesville Road, Apex and Chapel Hill -- also have a lot of returning talent." Even though his top runners returned, McDonough had a hard time convincing his girls they had a chance this year until they won the Wendy's Invitational earlier this year. In that meet his girls won the invitational division which fielded schools from seven states. "To tell you the truth, I don't know where the success actually came from." McDonough said. Even before McDonough came to the school, Watauga never lost a conference meet as a 3A school and has only lost one since moving to 4A in the mid-1980s. McDonough never did anything in running until he took over the cross country program at Sumter, SC, where his boys finished 11th in the state his first year, and eighth in his third year before he came to Watauga. "We just keep turning up good teams," McDonough said. McDonough is in his third year as head coach and was an assistant to David Ward for three years. The girls won state titles in 1990 and 1992 before he too over both programs. "Their success right now, the way I attribute it, is their willingness to work very, very hard," McDonough said. They looked strong at last Saturday's regionals at Freedom. The girls took six of the top 10 positions, while the boys took the top seven. That says a lot considering that Ashbrook's Chris Goodwin is in that region. Since 1980, Watauga has had three boys take individual state titles -- Mike Clinebell in 1985 (with a time of 15:14 which ties him for the second fastest time ever at a state championship at McAlpine), Patrick Phillips in 1988 with a 15:27 and Hodges last year -- and one girl (Bower). The girls have won three team championships (1985, 1990 and 1992) with the boys taking their one last year. Everyone talks about the mountains and how much that helps. "First of all there's not much weather that fazes us," McDonough said. "We're able to do a lot more early, in the sense we don't have to worry about the heat. Also, we can't do any run around here without a hill in it, so I think that helps strength." They're a low mileage team with the boys running 60 miles per week at the beginning of the season and 35-45 miles per week before tapering late in the season. The girls start off with 50 miles, and stay around 25-40 depending on their grade level before trying to peak. "I think it's going to be a very good state meet," East Mecklenburg coach Larry McAfee said. "It's the state championships. Anything could happen."