PINETOWN — This past Saturday on a cold, brisk morning, the 1A East Regional cross-country meet took place at Northside High School. Southside’s top boy and girl runners, Ethan Sommers and Tashonte Ballance both qualified for the State meet, as well as Northside’s Caroline Boyd.

Sommers set the pace for the pack, finishing the 5K in 17 minutes and 15 seconds. He cut off 11 seconds from his previous meet at Northside at the conference championship.

“I was a little more prepared today. I came a lot earlier to make sure I was ready and warmed up. I felt like in the last one I wasn’t prepared but I put forth the effort into making sure I did well today,” Sommers said. “I need work on hills (for the state meet), because the track in Kernersville is very hilly. If you get stuck in a group there, you get stuck at their pace. I have to make sure I pull out in that first mile so I am able to sustain the rest of the way.”

Southside’s Ballance also ran a great race, finishing with a 21:34, good for a fifth-place finish and a trip to Kernersville for the state meet.

The vast majority of runners had their best performances of the season, and many set personal-bests. Among those was Northside’s Thomas Boyd, who finished with a time of 19 minutes and 19 seconds.

“I didn’t start out as strong as I normally do because I usually try to beat everybody (out of the box) and it kills me,” Thomas Boyd said. “This time I had a different strategy. I went hard up the hills and not as hard down them and it definitely helped. I had a good strong pace and ran well.”

Thomas Boyd will continue to run in the offseason and during track season to stay in shape for his senior season.

Head coach Bob Girani was overwhelmed with the success of his runners on Saturday, commending them all for how far they’ve come this season.

“I certainly think the level of competition here today pushed them. I told them, ‘There’s no tomorrow,’ and they seemed to react to that,” Girani said. “I was really happy with them all today. Anytime I said something to them on the course, they did it. A couple of them came out of nowhere today.”

Northside’s Caroline Boyd ran another great race, grabbing a 10th-place finish as she crossed the finish line among 64 other female runners. Her time was a 22:02, setting a personal best for her young career.

“My freshman year I hit (the qualification for state), but last year I was battling some injuries and didn’t, but I felt good today,” Caroline Boyd said. “I PR’ed today, but I was trying to get under 22 minutes. I was a couple seconds short. At state, I’m going for it. I’m feeling the strongest I’ve ever felt, so I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing.”

Southside’s Summer Shavender, Northside’s Justin Bell, Zane Brooks, Bryson Proctor and Sydney Baker all set personal-bests on Saturday morning.

The State meet will take place in Kernersville next Saturday morning at 9 a.m.