The PCA Cross Country team competed in the SCISA State Championship races on Saturday morning at Heathwood Hall in Columbia.

In the girls race, Evelyn Mercer set a new school record with a time of 18:40.06 for the 5k course, an improvement of 25 seconds.  In what was the most exciting finish of the day, she finished in a tie for 3rd overall with both runners having the exact same time even down to the hundredths of a second!  Evelyn's finish was the highest ever for a PCA female runner, eclipsing the 8th place finishes achieved in 2018, 2019, and 2021.  Mary Margaret Wagner cemented a season of huge improvement by running her second best time ever, finishing in 30:36.

The PCA boys team placed 9th out of 17 teams, averaging 18:13, our best ever at the state event.  Will Terry led the way with his 34th place finish out of 116 runners, running the course in 17:45.  He was joined by Trey Wilson (18:02), Joseph Terry (18:09), Heyward Neely (18:32), Lucas Rodriguez-Porcel (18:37), Alex Avinger (18:43), and Miles Johnson who had a personal record run of 19:17.  The times posted by PCA would have given them the State Runner-Up position in 3A.  

All of our runners worked extremely hard this year and the future looks extremely bright for PCA cross country as all of our runners are 9th grade or below with the exceptions of Joseph Terry (SR) and Trey Wilson (JR).  

The PCA Cross Country team performed extremely well at the Highlander Invitational on Saturday.  In the girls' race, Evelyn Mercer broke her own school record by 40 seconds,  running the 5k course in 19:13 and finishing 13th out of 193 runners.  Mary Margaret Wagner finished in 34:51, her 3rd best time this season. 

The boys' team finished 12th out of 30 teams despite being one of the youngest teams competing.  Will Terry led the Eagles with a new Personal Record (by 38 seconds) of 17:26, good for 48th place out of 252 runners.  Trey Wilson improved his personal best by 1:03 with a time of 18:16 while Lucas Rodriguez-Porcel also set a new PR of 18:17.  Other Eagle runners setting new PRs were:  Heyward Neely (18:29), Joseph Terry (18:40), Alex Avinger (18:41), Miles Johnson (19:20), Wyatt Campbell (20:14), and Russell Crews (25:24).  Cam Morris narrowly missed a new PR with a time of 20:16.

The PCA Cross Country team participated in two races this week.  

On Wednesday, the team travelled to Old Santee Canal Park for the Stag Stampede hosted by Berkeley High School.  The boys had a good race finishing 3rd out of 5 teams with Will Terry leading the way with a time of 18:29 and finishing 8th out of 136 runners.  Joining Will in the top 25 overall were Heyward Neely (19:07- 14th), Lucas Rodriguez-Porcel (19:10 - 16th), Alex Avinger (19:35 - 20th), and Joseph Terry (19:52 - 25th).  Rounding out the top 7 for the boys were Trey Wilson (20:30) and Miles Johnson (21:00).  Also finishing well for PCA were Cam Morris (21:48) and Wyatt Campbell (21:52).  Mary Margaret Wagner was the only girl competing for the Eagles and she finished in 34:42.

Saturday, PCA had 5 athletes compete in the Low Country Invitational at Mullett Hall on John's Island.  Evelyn Mercer finished the 5k course in 20:33 to take 17th out of 195 girls.  Mary Margaret Wagner finished in 36:35.  For the boys, Lucas Rodriguez-Porcel was 89th out of 239, finishing the course in 19:31.  Trey Wilson (20:05 - 108th) and Miles Johnson (20:42 - 125th) were the only other boys competing as most of the rest of the team had planned to attend the East Cooper Baptist high school retreat.

PCA will travel to the Highlander Invitational at Heathwood Hall in Columbia on Saturday.

The PCA Cross Country teams travelled to St. Stephen for the Timberland Wolf Run on Wednesday.  

Sixth Grader Evelyn Mercer won her second varsity race in a row, running 19:54.65 for the 3.1 miles, and setting a new School Record by 2.60 seconds in the process.  There were 95 girls in the Varsity race.

The boys team finished 7th out of 17 teams, with the top 5 Eagles averaging 18:50 over the 5k course.  Will Terry led the way in 18:05.04, good for 28th place out of 140 runners (a new Personal Record by 14.16 seconds).  Rounding out the top 7 for PCA were Heyward Neely (18:40.78, 43rd), Lucas Rodriguez-Porcel (18:49.01, 48th), Joseph Terry (19:17.03, 55th), Trey Wilson (19:20.25, 57th), Alex Avinger (19:34.57, 66th), and Miles Johnson (20:39.03, 87th).  The following PCA runners set new Personal Records:   Heyward Neely by 22.12 seconds, Lucas Rodriguez-Porcel by 25.55 seconds, Trey Wilson by 5.91 seconds, Miles Johnson by 20.74 seconds, Wyatt Campbell by 32.35 seconds, and Russell Crews by 1:50.78.

The cross country runners will next compete this coming Saturday in St. Matthew's at the Run the Ravine run hosted by Calhoun Academy.

The Cross Country team travelled to Moncks Corner last Wednesday for Berkeley High Schools first meet of the season at Old Santee Canal Park.  The boys took to the course first and were led by Will Terry, who finished 8th overall out of 154 runners.  His time of 18:31 was a new season best.  Also scoring for the Eagles were Heyward Neely (22nd), Joseph Terry (25th), Lucas Rodriguez-Porcel (26th), and Trey Wilson (37th).  Alex Avinger (40th) and Miles Johnson (43rd) rounded out the top 7 with Miles setting a new personal record.  Wyatt Campbell finished 52nd overall and Cam Morris finished 81st.  Adam O'Hanley set a new PR by 15.55 seconds and 5th grader Russell Crews improved his best time by 1:11.17.  

The boys team finished 3rd out of 12 teams, beating Stratford and Berkeley by 59 points each.  The only teams to beat us were Summerville and Ashley Ridge, two 5A public schools.

6th grader Evelyn Mercer won the girls race (with 105 runners) in a time of 20:25, holding off the top runner from North Charleston High School for the entire race.  Freshman Mary Margaret Wagner improved her best career time by 38.08 seconds.

PCA Cross Country competed at the Pinewood Invitational on Saturday and had great success!

In the Varsity girls race, 6th grader Evelyn Mercer finished 2nd overall (out of 64 runners) and set a new school record of 19:57 in the process.  Her time broke the previous school record, set by Mae Cave in 2019, by 17 seconds!

In the Varsity boys race, Freshman Will Terry led the Eagles with a 17th place finish (out of 80 runners), beating his season best by almost 6 seconds with a time of 18:31 for the 5k distance.  Miles Johnson also set a new season best (21:00) finishing less than one second away from his personal record.  Eagle teammates Joseph Terry (18:51), Heyward Neely (19:02), Lucas Rodriguez-Porcel (19:14), Trey Wilson (19:26), Alex Avinger (19:27), Cam Morris (20:10), and Wyatt Campbell (21:14) all set new personal records as the Boys team finished 5th out of 11 teams.

Congratulations to Mary Margaret Wagner, Adam O'Hanley, and Russell Crews for completing their first 5k as new additions to the PCA Cross Country team!