The girls Cross Country team raced to a second place finish with 97 points at the Tyler Lee Cross Country Classic at UT Tyler. The team was edged by T.K. Gorman with a score of 94. Jessica McNew led the Ladynecks with an eighth place finish in 12:39. Sydney Hamm and Paige Maly finished 12^th and 13^th with times of 12:48 and 12:49. Brianne Mathews raced to a time of 13:01 for an 18^th place finish, and Lauren Berry rounded out the scorers with a 46^th place finish in 14:21. Elizabeth Horne and Shandee Lynn completed the girls race in 54^th, 14:39, and 63^rd, 15:13, out of 93 runners. In the junior varsity girls race Brittani Pfau finished in 13^th place in a time of 15:19. All of the girls competed well on this course, and their racing times have improved from their performances on the same course last season.

The boys entered their first race of the season as a team at the Tyler Lee meet. Dylan Rogers paced the Roughnecks with an eleventh place finish in 17:49 out of 118 runners. Cory Jones followed in 19:55 in 52^nd. Clay Hunter placed 76^th with a time of 21:03. Jimmie McNew, 105^th and Thien Vuong rounded out the scoring for the Roughnecks with times of 23:35 and 23:43. The boy’s team is gaining experience competing at the varsity level. They are still quite young at racing at the varsity level with four of the six runners competing in their first season. However, they are continuing to work hard and train hard during the week and they will begin to see the results on Saturdays.

Both teams will return to action on Saturday, September 19^th at the Fourth Annual Pine Tree Puddle Jump and Pig Trot at Katy’s Ranch in Kilgore. This is one of the most fun races of the season. It is challenging with hills fondly named “Big Mama” but winds through different terrains and around ponds. It is a true cross country race. The races begin at 8:00 with the varsity girls followed by the junior varsity girls and then the boys races. This will also be the first week the middle school teams will be competing with their race time tentatively schedule for 9:45 with the girls followed by the boys race.