Cross Country: The Underappreciated Sport in Recent News
- Kylie Szymanski
- Sep 22, 2025
- 2 min read
When thinking of high school sports, football, basketball, volleyball, and more come to mind. Varsity and JV games are announced on the intercom. Raffles are instituted to encourage student attendance. Game schedules are posted around the school, urging students to come and “support their school.”
Lincoln Charter truly makes a big show about supporting high school athletics. But what about those they just don’t care to encourage?
Cross-country is one of these underappreciated sports. Think about this: when was the last time you heard any news about Lincoln Charter’s cross-country team?
The cross-country team has been cast into oblivion. Race schedules aren’t posted, records aren’t announced, and school support is almost nonexistent. The privileges of holding the spotlight at Lincoln Charter are afforded only to a select few sports, and cross country is rarely counted among them.
On Monday September 15, the cross country team participated in the Catawba Shores Athletic Conference Kickoff. Racing against seven other teams, Lincoln Charter delivered an outstanding performance.
The men’s varsity team won first place overall, claiming five spots within the top ten finishers. Bryson Perry—a senior at Lincoln Charter—took first place, running five kilometers in a staggeringly fast pace of 17:32. He was followed shortly by Oliver Flannick in third place and Grant Gibbons in fifth.
The women’s varsity team matched this success with another first-place overall victory. Outrunning over sixty other athletes, Lillian Reeb, Lorelai Reeb, and Sophia Champion claimed first, second, and third place, respectively.
This is truly an amazing feat, albeit an unsurprising one. Lillian and Lorelai—both juniors at Lincoln Charter’s Lincolnton campus—have put in massive amounts of hard work and dedication over the last year. Within the NCHSSA 4A division, they are rightfully claiming 13th and 14th place in the entire state of North Carolina for their times.
Senior Sophia Champion, a natural talent and dedicated runner, continues to impress. She invariably places high in races and has been at the top of women’s varsity for the past three years.
Other notable mentions include Trevor Berry, who won first place in the men’s junior varsity race, and Carson Bohen, who placed second in the women’s junior varsity race.
While other sports receive spotlights, announcements, and packed stands, cross country’s victories too often pass without the recognition they deserve. But if these results prove anything, it’s that the cross country athletes will continue to break records, secure top finishes, and chase greatness—regardless of whether the school chooses to acknowledge them.