Led by freshman Isaac Campbell, who set a new personal record, the Washington cross-country team defeated Ayden-Grifton yesterday by a score of 28 to 31, even though Charger junior Eli Dawson finished with the best time.

Points are awarded to each team’s top five finishers, as first place overall receives one point, second receives two and so on and so forth, with the lowest score winning. Dawson’s time of 20:52 edged out Campbell’s time of 21:12 for first, but Washington’s next best four runners, Gavin Woolard, Braulton Dixon, Mason Horton, Chase Williams, Tristan Nixon and Alex Ramirez, took fifth through eighth, allowing the Pam Pack to edge out the Chargers.

Washington head coach Dawn Landen said she liked seeing the competitive fire from Campbell, who cut his time difference from Dawson by 25 seconds compared to the last time they raced.

“He’s (Campbell) just competitive. Today (yesterday), he said, ‘I’m going after him (Dawson),’” Landen said. “He’s catching him, which is good. When he (Campbell) came around he was asking how close is he (to Dawson) and was gaining on him. That’s what I like to see.”

Washington’s girls’ team ran as well, but without competition, as Greene Central didn’t attend the meet and Ayden-Grifton doesn’t have a girls’ team. But running without competition didn’t slow down Landen’s girls’ team, as many of the runners improved upon their times from the last meet.

Stella Frisbie was the top finisher with a time of 25:44 among the girls, taking a minute off of her previous best time. Fatima Torres (28:25), Alice Jones (31:12), Chandler Woolard (32:07) and Brianna Woolard (32:28) rounded out the top five for the Lady Pam Pack.

Landen was especially pleased by her runners’ strong performances, as it provides a confidence boost heading into the Bo Run at Boyd Lee Park today in Greenville. 1000 runners are expected at the meet, which begins the high school portion of the meet at 9:30 a.m.

“They saw improvement today; I expect to see even better on Saturday,” Landen said.