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I’ve run off and on, mostly off, for the last 15 years or so, but have never considering myself a serious runner. In fact, I completed my first 5K shortly after we moved here from Raleigh in the 2019 Turkey Trot.

I started training in earnest in February of this year to prepare for the F3 Exodus Run in April and stayed with it until it got too hot in July. I resumed the day after Labor Day and while I was trudging up one of several hills about halfway through a 5k race in Greenville 10 days ago, a thought popped into my head. Andrew Harding would be finished already. The Northside junior cross country runner recently set the school record by finishing a 5K in 16:10 and has probably broken the 16 minute barrier by now. He finished third in the state meet last year and has lowered his time significantly this fall. Northside hosts the East Regional October 21^st and the state meet is the following week.

You don’t have to be a runner to know that running 3.1 miles in under 16 minutes is impressive, but it’s doubly so when you’re out there chugging along gasping for breath while trying to break 35 minutes. Keep up the great work kid.

The 35^th Anchor Bowl goes in the books as a 34-12 victory for Northside in a game that was entertaining as always. The Panthers faced Washington in the first 12 Anchor Bowls, winning four. After Southside opened, the Seahawks replaced the Pack and proceeded to win five in a row after losing the first meeting in 2001 and lead the series, 14-9.

However, one of the stranger stats I’ve heard of held true again this year-the home team lost for the 19^th time in the series. Think about that. Home field/court advantage is supposed to be huge in all sports at all levels, but this series turns that theory on its head. Northside has won once at home, during the COVID spring season of 2020 on the way to the state championship game. Very strange indeed.

The Panthers lead an extremely weak Coastal Plains 1A/2A conference (see the standings elsewhere on this page) with three weeks left before the playoffs. Assuming they win out against Jones, Lejeune and Pamlico County, who are a combined 3-17, Northside will have a decent playoff seed and a shot at three home games.

Southside and Washington will probably also make the post-season, but will be on the road for the duration, barring upsets.

The NCHSAA has also been on my mind lately. Thanks to a legislator out west who got mad three or four years ago when the organization barred his local school from competing in the playoffs because they got into a fight during a game, their future is in doubt.

The General Assembly passed a bill, which Gov. Roy Cooper let become law without signing, that effectively strips the NCHSAA of its power to regulate high school sports starting next school year. It’s strange to me that Cooper did not defend the organization and make the Assembly override his veto. Maybe something better will come of this, but somebody needs to provide oversight. It will be interesting to see what happens next year. I guess plans to expand to seven classifications are on hold for now.

The recently passed state budget includes $600,000 for athletic improvements at Washington High School. I haven’t caught up to school officials yet to find out how they are going to spend it, but previous discussions included adding bleachers and a locker room/bath room/concessions building near the new soccer field. More to come on that.