by Lorin Browning

At the South Carolina High School State League championship meet on Saturday, Nov. 3 in Columbia, S.C., the Landrum Cross Country Girls won the AA girls state championship, defeating Waccamaw on tie-breaker points.

Landrum became a AA school in September. This was the first AA state championship in any sport won by a Landrum team.

The cross country team consisted of seven competing runners, along with two alternates. Points are awarded to the first five finishers from each team.  When there is a tie for a position, the finishing times for the sixth finisher from the tied-teams are used.

Landrum’s top five finishers were Samantha Waters with a time of 20:18.29; Laura Ford, 20:41.10; Ciera Belue, 20:41.62; Sarah Cash, 20:45.32; and Elizabeth Walter, 21:23.60.  Both Landrum and Waccamaw finished with a total of 68 points.

The time for Grace Furman, Landrum’s sixth finisher, not only was better than the time for Waccamaw’s sixth finisher, it was better than the time for Waccamaw’s fifth finisher.  With less than 50 yards to go to the finish, Furman passed Waccamaw’s fifth finisher to ensure the Landrum win. If Furman had not passed Waccamaw’s fifth runner, Furman’s time would not have factored into the score and Waccamaw would have been the winner. Some were heard referring to Furman as “Amazing Grace.”

Also amazing was the race run by Samantha Waters, the only Landrum senior on the team.  Waters was eighth overall out of the 139 girls finishing the 3.1-mile course.  For the last several years, Waters has been Landrum’s dominant cross country girl.

All-state honors are awarded to the top fifteen finishers of the race, an honor awarded to Waters, Ford, Belue and Cash.

The boys team finished fifth at the state meet.