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A race official stood in front of one of the crowds of runners waiting to start their portion of Saturday’s WNC Cross Country Carnival in Hendersonville.

“Remember that you cannot win this race in the first mile, but you can lose it,” the official shouted.

That message apparently never made it to Polk County’s Karsyn Huskey – she won her race in the first dozen yards or so.

Huskey quickly broke to the front of the Girls Invitational field and never surrendered the lead, topping a field of more than 130 runners by 22 seconds to claim the race win at Jackson Park.

Polk County fielded full girls and boys teams in the Invitational division of the season-opening meet, which featured runners from all across North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The Wolverine girls took 15th in their event, while Davis Young’s 10th-place showing led the Polk boys to a ninth-place effort in the 25-team boys field.

Young cracked the top 10 with a time of 18:20.30. Freshman Liam Jackson finished 34th in a tme of 19:21.60, with Philip Teague in 68th at 20:29.00. Ethan Jenne (21:27.70) and Sam Rhein (22:35.90) rounded out the top five for Polk.

Dean Holland (24:50.90), Austin Shipman (24:56.90) and Max Butterfield (29:29.50) rounded out Polk’s runners in the race.

For Polk’s girls, Khloe Kitchen followed Huskey with a time of 31:17.70, just ahead of teammate Emily-Charlie Keller (31:23.00). Kendra Kitchen (32:42.30) and Zina Ishwar (32:48.50) rounded out the top five for the Wolverines, with Zoe Caldwell finishing in 40:15.00.

“When you get a win, it’s always a good day,” said Polk County coach Alan Peoples. “We had a complete girls team of almost all new runners. The boys were very strong, with Davis Young in the top 10. Newcomer Liam Jackson was also a pleasant surprise with his time today.”

Polk County will next be in action on Sept. 6, running in Friday Night Lights in Kernersville.