AROUND THE COUNTY

Girls golf in heat of season; Anstrom sets PR at adidas XC Challenge

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The girls golf season is already in full swing, and several Chatham County teams already have wins under their belt.

One of those teams is Chatham Central, which competed against North Moore and Seaforth on Monday at The Preserve at Jordan Lake. The Bears placed third of the three teams this time around because they didn’t have enough golfers to participate, but before that they had finished first and second, respectively, in their two previous matches.

Central returned its top three golfers — seniors Reagan Mize, Jaylee Williams and Ashton Wilks ­— this fall after winning the Mid-Carolina Conference title in 2021. Mize shot a 48 at the match at The Preserve on Monday, which was second overall behind North Moore's  Paige Ritter, who had a low round of 40.

The Bears were to host the Chatham Central Invitational on Wednesday against Southern Alamance. The match will be played at Siler City Country Club, the home course of the Bears.

Seaforth shows out at XC invitational

On Saturday, several Seaforth athletes competed at the adidas XC Challenge at Wake Med Soccer Park in Cary.

The top finisher for the Hawks in any event was sophomore Jack Anstrom, who finished 20th in the boys championship race in a time of 15:34.7, the fastest time of his career so far. For comparison, Anstrom’s previous personal best time was 16:23.3 over a 5,000-meter course, something he accomplished at the Eastbay South Region Cross Country Championships back in November.

In the boys challenge race, Hawks’ sophomore Will Cuicchi finished in 15th with a time of 17:37.6. That time was also a new personal best for Cuicchi, who previously completed a 5,000-meter race the fastest in 18:12.7.

On the girls side, freshman Katherine Leonard finished 12th in the girls challenge race in a time of 21:33.6, while sophomore Claire Morgan, sophomore Juana Jiminez and freshman Caidence Bazemore finished 36th, 44th and 45th, respectively.

Powell moving up

Northwood junior and recent UNC men’s basketball commit Drake Powell recently saw his recruiting ranking jump up a few spots.

According to 247Sports’ composite rankings, which average rankings from various different recruiting sites, Powell is now the No. 48 player nationally and No. 3 player in North Carolina in the Class of 2024. Before the most recent update, Powell was ranked outside the top 50 players nationally.

Powell is one of two Chatham County players ranked among the top-50 juniors in the country. The other is Seaforth’s Jarin Stevenson, who has reported six Division-I offers and is considered the No. 17 player in the Class of 2024.

Powell and Stevenson both played at Northwood as freshmen in 2020-21 before Stevenson left to join a brand-new school and program in Seaforth.

Stevenson has scholarship offers from UNC, Virginia, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Georgetown and Missouri.

Sports Editor Jeremy Vernon can be reached at jeremy@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @jbo_vernon.