Finishing Strong

This past Saturday, November 8, several area cross country runners competed in the state meet in Lexington.

In Class A, Williamsburg eighth grader Selena Mattingly recorded a third place finish out of 177 total runners with a time of 19:23.45. Teammate Abigail Schwarz finished 78th with a time of 23:00.52, and Natalia Munoz came in 153rd in 27:27.01.

Senior Yellow Jacket Garrett Faulkner finished ninth in the boys race out of 210 total competitors with a time of 17:15.69. Also running for Williamsburg in the boys race was seventh grader Jamie Haus, who came in 173rd with a time of 21:36.70.

“It was a great day,” said Williamsburg Head Coach John Harris. “I was excited about the way we represented our school at the meet. Selena did a great job, and earned third place for the second year in a row. I’m excited for her, as well as our other two girls.”

“Natalia was able to PR, and Abby had a good race as well. She has gotten better as the year has progressed.”

“I thought Garrett ran a really smart race, and I was super excited about his finish. He was fifteenth last year, so his ninth place finish this year is really a testament to his hard work. He is probably the hardest worker I’ve had in several years.”

“I was also glad for Jamie, who got to gain some valuable experience that should help him in the years ahead.”

The Lynn Camp Wildcats qualified for team competition in the boys race. Branson Tigue was the first Cat to cross the finish line in 81st place with a time of 19:10.28. Jacob Bundy was next, finishing 113th at the 19:43.31 mark. Next came Bruce Hokpins, who finished 140th in 20:26.80. He was followed by Dylan Guinn, who finished 178th with a time of 21:51.14. Jayden Elliott was right behind, coming in 179th in 21:52.77. Chandler Miracle finished 182nd in 21:57.14, and finally, Andrew Jones was 209th with a time of 26:07.89.

In all, Lynn Camp recorded a team score of 549, which was good enough to give them a 19th place finish out of 25 total teams.

Wildcats Head Coach Eric Swords expressed a lot of excitement about his team’sperformance this year, and is optimisitic about being able to continue building onto their success in the coming years.

In Class 2A, Corbin’s Tyler Hinkle finished 150th out of 219 runners in the boys race with a time of 19:31.69. Lady Hound Reese Helton came in 66th out of 202 female runners with a time of 22:11.06. Teammate Danielle Hickman finished 135th in 23:38.89.

Redhound Head Coach Tyler Harris said, “This was an excellent season for both the boys and girls teams. I am looking forward to building onto what we did this year, and continuing to improve the quality of our program. I think we’re heading in the right direction, and we have a lot of young talent who have yet to reach their potential.”

Finally, in Class 3A, Whitley County senior Dalton Walden finished 113th out of 248 competitors with a time of 17:55.49.

Colonels Head Coach David Lennon said of his senior runner, “He had a good race. It was his best performance yet, and a good way to end his career.”

“I think that all of the local runners went up there and improved. I was glad to see all of the kids do well. I think it is great for the sport when athletes from all of the localschools are doing well.”