Fort Mill High School's cross country teams opened the 2026 season with top-four finishes across all four divisions at the WNC Cross Country Carnival.
The Yellow Jackets sent 30 runners to Jackson Park in Hendersonville, North Carolina, on Sunday, Aug. 30. The boys Championship 5K squad placed third with 71 points, just one point behind Greer Middle College Charter and 17 behind winner Charlotte Latin. The girls Championship team took fourth with 109 points, three behind West Henderson.
Both programs enter the fall as reigning South Carolina High School League (SCHSL) 5A Division 2 champions. The girls claimed a third consecutive state title in November 2025 with 38 points. The boys won their second straight with 48.
Those title teams graduated key front-runners. The girls lost Marlee Cook, who finished second at state in 19:07.78, and Alivia Cleveland, who was sixth in 19:17.10. The boys graduated Finn Leckrone, the state runner-up in 15:51.34, and Connor Demmerle, who placed fourth in 16:05.11.
The new leaders delivered.
Hudson Haley led Fort Mill's boys in the Championship race, finishing fourth in 16:10.10. Owen Ware placed eighth in 16:34.46. Ian Zook (18th, 17:08.19), Jacob Audley (23rd, 17:20.06) and Greyson Pogalz (26th, 17:23.78) completed the scoring five. All five finished within 1 minute, 14 seconds of one another, according to the Tega Cay Sun.
Liam Doheny (29th) and Preston Cullen (31st) ran close enough to push ahead of scoring runners from teams behind Fort Mill.
Emerson Beightol posted the best individual finish of the day for any Fort Mill runner, taking third in the girls Invitational in 21:43.47. She trailed winner Corinne Russell of Carolina Day School and Sophie Mason of Wade Hampton.
Penelope Knight's 72nd-place finish in 25:50.36 proved decisive. Fort Mill and Dorman both scored 109 in the girls Invitational, and the tiebreaker gave Fort Mill third on the strength of its sixth runner.
In the girls Championship race, Lauren Allen and Mia Zook finished ninth and 11th, separated by fewer than nine seconds at 20:09.06 and 20:17.87. Dorman won that division with 67 points.
The carnival drew teams from four states. Several South Carolina programs Fort Mill will face again during the SCHSL season made the trip, including Dorman, Greer Middle College Charter, Mauldin, Spring Valley and Wade Hampton.
