By KATE HAIROPOULOS, Staff Writer 
News & Record

GREENSBORO -- Both Lance Hall and Leslie Jimison had done this before.
A year later, both did it again, and did it better.

Hall won the boys' City-County Cross Country meet at Hagan-Stone Park last 
season by a safe five seconds in 17:23. At the same event on a beautiful fall 
afternoon Monday, his time of 16:21 earned a whopping 32-second cushion 
between him and second-place finisher/Ragsdale teammate Ryan Crise. Ragsdale 
also retained the team title, which it has owned for the past several years.
Page's Jimison won the girls' side in 19:49, a whole 37 seconds better than 
her winning time a season ago.

Not everything was deja vu, though. Southeast Guilford took the title this 
season, edging out two-time winner Northwest Guilford, 48 points to 64.
Hall and Ragsdale should be strong contenders for state titles this season 
after taking third place in 1999.

"If we don't win here, we aren't good enough to go to states," said Hall, 
just a junior.

Ragsdale didn't have anything to worry about. It crushed the rest of the 
county's competition, filling five of the top eight spots. The Tigers tallied 
20 points. Second-place Southeast Guilford had 99. Along with Hall and Crise 
in the top two slots, Tripp Costas took third, Matt Burton sixth and Steve 
Andersen eighth. The first non-Tiger finisher, Grimsley's Matt Hair, finished 
fourth.

As one race official put it, if the race had been Ragsdale against the rest 
of the county as a team, the Tigers still would have won.

"We've got to hold up the tradition," said Crise, whose runner-up performance 
was also a repeat. "It's expected."

The Tigers, which won the Tri-County 3-A conference meet at Hagan-Stone last 
week, run in their regional on the same course this Saturday. Coach Kit Boone 
says the team will taper its training for the rest of the week to prepare for 
the big race.

While the Tigers had a full team effort, Jimison won without much team 
support. Page elected to keep several of its top runners out of the meet to 
prepare for its 4-A regionals at Tanglewood Park, looming Saturday. So, why 
did Jimison run?

"I like to run and I love this course," Jimison, a senior, said. "It's not 
the fastest I've run on this course, but it's all I wanted to do today."
Grimsley's Liz Pardue placed second with a time of 20:03. The top finisher 
for the winning Southeast Guilford squad was Loring Watkins, in third place 
with a time of 20:27. Two other Falcon runners -- Cara Vandorn and Stephanie 
Camp finished ninth and tenth. The Falcons are 15-1 on the season, with their 
only loss coming against Page.

"We generally finish second," Southeast coach Mick Gallant said, noting the 
Falcons had never won the County meet in his eight years at Southeast.

There's always a first. As Hall and Jimison know quite well.

Results of Monday's City-County cross country meet at Hagan Stone Park:

Boys:
 1. Jamestown Ragsdale 20
 2. Southeast Guilford 99
 3. Northeast Guilford 140
 4. Northwest Guilford 144
 5. Greensboro Grimsley 153
 6. Greensboro Page 157
 7. Greensboro Day 171
 8. Western Guilford 204
 9. Greensboro Smith 210
10. High Point Wesleyan 222
11. Southwest Guilford 343.

1. Lance Hall (Ragsdale) 16:21
2. Ryan Crise (Ragsdale) 16:53
3. Tripp Costas (Ragsdale) 17:07
4. Matt Hair (Grimsley) 17:17
5. Nathaniel Dick (Southeast Guilford) 17:26
6. Matt Burton (Ragsdale) 17:32
7. Dave Gaadt (Page) 17:39
8. Steve Andersen (Ragsdale) 17:46
9. Eleazar Salinos (Northeast Guilford) 17:47
10. Adam McGugan (Western Guilford) 17:51.

Girls:
 1. Southeast Guilford 48
 2. Northwest Guilford 64
 3. Jamestown Ragsdale 71
 4. Northeast Guilford 170
 5. High Point Wesleyan 199
 6. Greensboro Grimsley 203
 7. Greensboro Page 204
 8. Western Guilford 228
 9. Greensboro Day 282
10. Greensboro Smith 364
11. Southwest Guilfrod 416

1. Leslie Jimison (Page) 19:49
2. Liz Pardue (Grimsley) 20:03
3. Loring Watkins (Southeast Guilford) 20:27
4. Katie Alloway (High Point Wesleyan) 20:36
5. Kelly Kidder (Northwest Guilford) 20:41
6. Addy Bracy (Northwest Guilford) 20:48
7. Alexandra Slack (Ragsdale) 20:51
8. Blair DeGraw (Greensboro Day) 21:12
9. Cara Vandorn (Southeast Guilford) 21:19
10. Stephanie Camp (Southeast Guilford) 21:35.