Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Cherryville, NC (WNN)- The Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams, along with the Cherryville High School Marching Ironmen Band, all had a successful week. All three have done very well in each of their competitions and still have more events scheduled. Although the competitions require different forms of skill and talent, all the students involved put in long hours of practice as they work on improving their performance, and each one is dedicated to doing the hard work required.
On Tuesday, October 14th, the men’s and women’s cross-country teams competed in the Southern Piedmont 2A/3A/4A Conference Championships, held at Shelby High School. Both teams performed extremely well, despite a few runners missing due to injury, including Senior Cameryn Bell, who has consistently been one of the top women’s runners this season. Coaches Antonio Griggs and Callie Cooke hope to have everyone back at full strength for the next meet.
The CHS men’s and women’s cross-country teams
Coach Antonio Griggs
In the women’s division, the Lady Ironmen, as a team, finished 4th with 109 points behind Shelby with 34 points, West Lincoln with 38 points, and Highland Tech with 59 points. Clara Skamarock was the top Cherryville female runner with a 9th-place finish, clocking in at a time of 24:58. Her performance earned her All-Conference Honors. Congratulations to Clara on her well-deserved recognition.
In the men’s division, the Ironmen had three guys place in the top 20. Steven Wyatt placed 4th with a time of 18:20, Geovanny Martinez in 7th with a time of 19:11, and Mason Powers came in 19th with a time of 21:16. Both Steven and Geovanny earned All-Conference Honors. Congratulations on achieving such an honor. As a team, Cherryville was 3rd overall with 66 points. They finished behind Shelby, 25 points, and West Lincoln, 57 points. Next up for the CHS runners will be the regional meet on Saturday, October 25th, held at the Tryon Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, NC.
Coach Antonio Griggs with the Cross Country Team.
Coach Antonio Griggs
Long before classes resumed from summer break, Band Director Cole Crawford had his students learning and practicing their routine. Those long, hot, sweaty days have been paying off with major dividends. At all home football games, band members are in the stands and on the field, cheering on and motivating the team and fans. Friday nights and parades are only a part of the marching band season. They also compete in marching band competitions across the state. It would be an understatement to say they have competed well; a more accurate word would be that they have dominated their class.
Some of the band members during their competition. October 11th,2025
William Phillips (WNN)
The last time, before this season, that the Marching Ironmen had placed first overall in Class 1A competition was 2017. This season, they have not only placed first overall but have done it twice! This group might be small in members; however, they perform huge on the field. September 27th, they placed first overall in Class 1A at the Enka Land of the Sky Competition, while earning several other awards as well. Their most recent competition was last Saturday, October 11th.
They captured overall first place in Class 1A at the North Gaston Wildcat Invitational in Dallas, NC. Other awards brought home included 2nd place in visual effects and 1st place in music. The band has two more competitions: October 18th at Freedom High School and October 25th at Porter Ridge High School. After that, they will showcase their performance at the Gaston County Marching Band Fanfare on November 1st.
Members of the CHS band playing on the football field.
Cherryville High School Band's Facebook Page
After the homecoming game against East Gaston last Friday, October 10th, the football team stayed on the sidelines to watch the band perform. Due to the extended time of introducing the homecoming court and crowning a queen during halftime, the band elected to perform after the game. This show of respect was a shining example of how all the students, teams, and organizations honor and support each other.
During Coach Bowman’s post-game interview, he commented on his team taking time to respect the efforts of the band. “Their practice field is right behind ours, so we see how hard they work, too. I’m pretty sure they won a competition last week, so we’re happy for them. You know, these kids deserve our support just as much as they support us. So, anytime we can, we check them out. Normally, they play at halftime, and we don’t get to see them. So, we get a chance to check them out, we like to watch them to encourage them as well.”
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