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The Northside Panthers cross country team continues to improve with back to back second place finishes to begin the season.

Freshman Keanu Dugan won Wednesday’s Coastal Plains Conference race at Riverside HS and Caroline Boyd finished second overall. The Panthers don’t have a girls team this fall, so Boyd and two other runners competes with the boys.

South Creek, Tarboro and Pamlico HS joined Riverside and the Panthers and coach Bob Girani was pleased with his teams’ performance.

“We beat the top runners from Riverside and Pamlico for the first time in a very long time,” Girani said. “The course was slow, trying and gruesome with many hilly and steep areas, but we competed very well. Caroline finished the race with energy to spare. She will continue to improve as the season goes along”

Jordan Harding and Bryson Proctor finished second and third among the Northside runners. Brent Holland, Johnny Price, Zane Brooks, Austin Adams and twins Jaedon and Jordan Clark all finished the course.

“I’m so elated with our progress that I’ll never wear out a pair of shoes because I’m walking on air,” Girani quipped. “We are improving rapidly and it’s exciting to see.”

Northside continues its conference racing season Wednesday at Tarboro High School.