The Academic Magnet boys cross country team was just shy of first place at the Region 7 2A Championship on Oct. 19, but the Raptors produced overall winners in the varsity and JV races for its best team race of the season.
Running at Timberland High School, the Raptors took second with 31 points — just behind conference rival Bishop England’s 25 — and four Raptor runners earned All Region honors.
Junior Quinn Swanton, who is also this week’s South Carolina Runner’s athlete of the week, dominated the varsity race with a first-place overall finish at 15:50.64, ahead of Bishop England’s Jackson Muller at 16:04.73.
Junior Calvin Volkmann edged out BE’s Marc Brahim for a fourth-place finish and PR (16:30.07) while junior Peyton Johnson was seventh (16:45.40), and sophomore Brayden Bunt was eighth (16:49.47).
Helping Magnet’s strong varsity team finish was having its next three runners all finishing back-to-back from 11th to 13th place in the field: Everett Landrith (17:03, 11th); Colin George (17:07.89, 12th) and Hunter Kuhnell (17:11.69, 13th).
In the JV race, Raptors took first overall as a team with 35 points, led by C.J. Geiger whose 17:17.59 finish was a PR by nearly one minute. Reece Early was fourth overall with 18:08.64, while Liam Campbell (19:19.55, 9th) and Adam Kremer (19:26.83, 10th) rounded out the top 10.
The Region Championship also honors all the seniors, which included Colin George, Lawton Harper and Adam Kremer.
Across the team there were 14 PRs, which head coach Brian Johnson said was a highlight.
“We raced very well,” Johnson said, noting the two individual champions and four All-Region winners. “I’m proud of how all our guys raced. We lost to a team that was better than us on that night, but we were close and I look forward to the State Championship.”
The Region meet was a culmination of great racing by the Raptors all season, beginning with an impressive finish at the Eye Opener Invitational in which Swanton earned a 12th place finish with his then-PR 15:55. Volkmann, Kuhnell and Landrith all finished in the top 100 of nearly 400 runners. The Raptors also finished 11th out of 38 teams.
Previously, the boys team finished fifth of 41 teams in the Coaches Classic Oct. 14 — a big improvement over last year’s 15th place finish.
Swanton led the Raptors with his third overall finish and 15:55 time, while Geiger was 12th in the JV race with 18:14.
Magnet also raced in the Great American Cross Country Festival in Raleigh, North Carolina, Oct. 7 where Swanton got a PR of 15:47.8 and a 47th place finish out of 375 runners. That time also gave him the second fastest 5K time in Magnet history.
“We have had a great season so far,” he said, noting the difficult slate of invitationals the team has done this fall. “We chose a challenging race schedule and the guys have really stepped up. We have three of the 10 fastest all-time AMHS runners on the team this year (Swanton, 2nd; Volkmann, 7th; Johnson, 10th) and five guys under 17 minutes.”
Johnson is looking forward to a season best at the state meet and also pointed to the huge improvement of both varsity and JV teams.
“Our young guys in the JV improved tremendously throughout the season and we have a very bright future,” Johnson added. “I am looking forward to a strong finish at State and am confident we will be ready when it counts.”
Following the Nov. 4 state qualifier at Newberry College will be the state championships on Nov. 11 at the same location.
