This year’s Lady Lions squad looks to follow in the footsteps of a record-setting season.
Concord set the tone for its 2008 season at the Hagon Stone meet in Greensboro, NC. The Lady Lions Lions placed four runners in the top ten in besting an impressive 12-team field (including South Atlantic Conference champion Wingate) to claim their first-ever meet championship.
Concord capped its impressive 2008 campaign with a fourth-place finish at the WVIAC Championships in Wheeling and a 19th-place showing at the NCAA Regionals at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania.
The Lady Lions lose only one athlete from 2008’s team – Amanda Blankenship, who won the conference Runner of the Week Award for September 30 and finished 2nd Team All-WVIAC.
Head coach Mike Cox is looking to a large group of returners look to build on last year’s success. “With the women returning and the ones coming in,” Cox says, “this is the best team we’ve ever had on paper.”
Junior Danielle Pye is back after finishing 8th in the conference championships and earning 1st Team All-WVIAC honors.
Sophomore Tabatha Whited finished 19th in the conference meet in Wheeling and claimed a spot on the All-WVIAC 2nd Team. Junior Carly Stout is Concord’s highest returning finisher from last year’s Regionals.
Others to watch this year are incoming freshmen Chelsea Callaway, Rachel Williams and Shawnee Carnett, each of whom competed in the high school nationals last year.