The Cross Country teams competed on the campus of UT Tyler last weekend in one of the largest meets of the season hosted by Tyler Lee High School. The Varsity girl’s team placed sixth and the boy’s team placed 11th in the Open Varsity division. Jess McNew led the Ladynecks in seventh place with a race time of 12:39. McNew was followed by Paige Maly, 18th, 13:08 and Brianne Mathews, 39th in 13:42. Lauren Berry and Elizabeth Horne completed the team scoring in 52nd and 79th place. Berry completed the two mile course in 14:00 and Horne in a time of 15:01. The girls raced well over a course that was mostly grassy terrain with an incline at the end. In the Junior Varsity girls race Alyssa Mathews placed 48th, 16:04, out of 94 runners.
For the second week, Skylar Sutton led the Roughnecks with a 28th place finish in a time of 18:03. Jonathan Spedowski continued to improve his performances with a race time of 18:33 for 41st place. Cory Jones placed 83rd, 20:13, Jerred Whisenhunt, 87th, 20:16, and Austin Jordan, 89th, 20:21 to completed the team scoring. Calob Player and Carter Tackett completed the 3.2 mile course in 20:31 and 20:48 for 93rd and 100th place.
The boys are still learning to race as a team and they are showing great strides in this area. In the Junior Varsity boys race Clay Hunter collected some hardware with an 18th place finish in a time of 19:43. Hunter was followed by teammate Greyson Jones in 22:32 and Chase Robinson in 22:58 for 77th and 92nd places. Jordan DeAguero placed 99th in a time of 23:15. Mickey McFall, 133rd, and Bryson White, 138th, for 24:50 and 24:55 respectively.
The teams will travel to Canton on September 18th to compete in the Running Eagles Invitational for the first time. The High School races kickoff at 8:30 with the Varsity boys race. The Junior High runners will compete in their first meet of the season on this course starting at approximately 10:10 with the boys race followed by the girls.