The Ladynecks and Roughnecks were back in action this week at the Mike Darby XC Meet held at Lear Park. The junior high runners started the week off on Thursday, running on the two mile course. In the boys race Sutton Spencer led the way with a 25th finish in 13:56. Spencer was followed by Samuel Moore in 47th a time of 14:39, Christian Oynes, 84th, 15:57, and Skeeter Maxwell, 112th, 17:16. Leyton Lincoln rounded out the team scoring laced 128th in a time of 18:01. Colson Still finished in 181st place in a time of 21:39 out of 200 runners. The team finished 12th out of 17 teams with a score of 319 points. In the girls race, Olivia Applegate lead the team in 17:38 with a 51st place finish. Mia Olvera, 63rd, 18:13, and Maddie Stout, 113th, 20:29, also contributed to the team scoring. Gemma Schwarz, 178th, 23:33 and McKenna Paul in a time of 24:21 for 184th out of 211 finished up the team score for the Ladynecks. The ladies finished in 14th place with a team score of 388 points.

JH runners (L to R): Leyton Lincoln, Skeeter Maxwell, Samuel Moore, Sutton Spencer, and Christian Oynes compete at the Pine Tree Meet on 9/11/25

On Friday the high school runners returned to action on the same course. The Ladynecks kicked off the morning with top 25 finishes by Sophie Fisher and Ally Tatum with season best times. Fisher finished in 14:05 for 21st place and Ally Tatum finished in 24th place for 14:08 in a race that saw 140 finishers. In the varsity boys 1A-4A division race the team of Nathan Watson, Kaleb Glenn, Luke Bueno, Cole Jordan, and Emry Morris finished in 17th place with a team score of 456 in a race of 162 competitors. Bueno led in this race with a time of 20:06 for 81st place, followed by Jordan, 89th, 20:16, and Morris, 99th, 20:27. Watson, 101st, 20:34, and Glenn rounded out the scoring in 125th in a time of 21:42.

Nathan Watson and Luke Bueno lead the Roughnecks off the line at the Pine Tree Meet on Sept, 12th

The final competitors of the morning was the team of Logan Langewisch, Niko Soto, Cooper Tucker, Isaak Olvera, Nathan Stringer, and Henrick Rider racing in the Varsity Open Division. The team placed second behind Hallsville with a score of 66 points. Sophomore Isaak Olvera led the way for the Roughnecks with a ninth place finish in 18:33. Olvera was followed by Soto in tenth place 18:43, Tucker in 11th place, 18:44 and Rider in 19th place for 19:13. Stringer, 31st, 19:46 and Langewisch, 45th, 20:46 rounded out the scoring for the Roughnecks. All of the Roughnecks and Ladynecks competed well on a traditionally challenging course. Next week the high school runners will compete at the Hallsville Invitational at the high school campus on Friday. The junior high runners will return to action on Saturday, September 27th at the Union Grove meet.

White Oak Roughnecks pre-race pray and pep talk from Kaleb Glenn