By: Briana Taylor

This past Friday, September 9th, forty of Apex’s Cross Country team had the opportunity to participate in the annual event, Friday Night Lights. Friday Night Lights is held every year at Kernersville on the State Meet track course and is a vastly anticipated event for cross country runners throughout the state. With a team of over one hundred people, only forty runners are chosen to compete: twenty  girls and twenty  guys, evenly split between varsity and junior varsity. Friday Night Lights is the first invitational race of the season and is a great time for runners to qualify for states or the Championship. Throughout the night, there are a total of eleven races, being either 5Ks or 3Ks. Runners have the opportunity to compete in the Championship, JV, and Open races. Runners who compete in Friday Night Lights are chosen based on the top 20 runners who placed in the previous meet. The top 1-10 runners compete in the Championship race, while the top 11-20 compete in the JV race. For runners who did not qualify to race, they can run in the Open races that are held throughout the night. 

Cross Country runner, Sophia Taylor, is a junior at Apex High and competed in the Championship race. Placing seventh in Apex Girls with a time of 23.37, she was “grateful to have the opportunity to be a part of the annual event.” Sophia, as well as many other teammates, “enjoyed running alongside [her] school and cheering and supporting [her] fellow runners.” Another junior from Apex, Lindsay Taylor, competed in the JV race and finished with a time of 26.02. 

As you walk through the halls, keep an eye out for members of the cross country team wearing a Friday Night Lights shirt or other apparel, and be sure to congratulate them on their hard work. If you missed out on the opportunity to support them last Friday, make sure to save the date for the next upcoming meet on September 22, at 5:00 P.M. at WakeMed Soccer Park.