Of late, Currituck has been the top cross country program in the area. But a couple of Northeastern runners had the Eagles soaring this year.

Junior Emil Verde and freshman Alex Tavenier each had solid seasons and have earned The Daily Advance Cross Country Runner of the Year awards for 2007.

File photos by Justin Falls (ENLARGE)

Northeastern's Emil Verde (left) and Alex Tavenier

Verde has run all three years with the Eagles. Coach Jessie Cassino said that Verde came to Northeastern with the ability and background to be a solid runner.

"His mom runs a lot, so he came in with a pretty good understanding of how to run, and he had some natural talent," Cassino said. "So it's just a matter of working with him and trying to get the most out of what his talent gives him."

That talent has brought him a little further each year. Verde ran his personal best time of 17:50 this season. He also finished fourth in the Northeastern Coastal Conference meet this year, behind only three runners from champion First Flight. His 18:54 run helped the Eagles finish third, three points behind Currituck. He also came in 28th at regionals.

"He's consistently dropping his times every year," Cassino said. "He broke 18 (minutes) this year for the first time. We're just trying to keep him along that path."

Tavenier was a surprise addition for the Lady Eagles this season, but not an unwelcome one.

"She was at Camden before, so I didn't even know she was going to run for us until the first day of practice," Cassino said. "Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to have her on the team."

She has been running distance races for only a couple of years, but she was dominant in the area this year. She had a personal best of 20:25, won the conference meet with a run of 21:47 and finished eighth at regionals with a 22:30. She competed in the state meet and finished 75th.

She was unable to lead Northeastern to a solid place in the NCC team meet because there were only three Lady Eagle runners. But the future is bright for Northeastern on both the boys' and girls' sides.

"We're only losing one senior," Cassino said of his teams. "On the guys' side, we have four juniors who are going to be seniors next year and a couple of freshmen. So we're going to roll it over. The little bit of success we had this year, we're going to build on that and maybe actually compete with First Flight for a conference championship for once."

Adam Meads

Northeastern

Junior

9th in NCC, 18:07 best time

Johnny Reinhold

Edenton

Senior

4 wins, 6th in NCC, 17:56 best

Graham Mills

Edenton

Freshman

21st in NCC, 19:57 best time

Hunter Hughes

Currituck

Junior

7th in NCC, Top 3 in most meets

Dougie Forbes

Currituck

Senior

10th in NCC, Top 5 in most meets

Jonathan Langlois

Pasquotank

Junior

15th in NCC, Top 10 each meet

Garrett Dunn

Albemarle

Freshman

Went to state meet, 22:11 best

Lauren Ward

Currituck

Sophomore

4th in NCC, team MVP

Ashley Craft

Currituck

Senior

5th in NCC, Top 5 in most meets

Kelsey Temple

Albemarle

Freshman

3rd at state, 23:21 best time

Amy Bridgeman

Edenton

Senior

14th in NCC, 23:30 best time

Kelly Bostock

Pasquotank

Sophomore

13th in NCC, Top 5 each meet