The regional cross country championship meet took place this past Saturday in Troy. The weather was beautiful and for the first time in many years the course was in great chape. Your wildcat cross country team qualified the most runners in school history this season with four individuals girls and the entire boys team making the cut. This is an amazing accomplishment in itself just to get to this point in the post season, and everyone gave their best hoping to advance to the state meet next weekend.

In the girls race things heated up quickly with a fast start along the river. Laila Black led our team with a strong start passing the first mile maker in 6:28, her second fastest first mile of the season. Just behind her were Gigi Perkins, Kydee Shults and Bryley Wulff who were all fighting for positioning as they came through mile two and headed up onto the levee for the final mile. Our girls battled all the way to the finish using the final downhill to pick up their pace and sprint to the finish. Laila black crossed the line first for the Wildcats with a time of 21:51. She was followed by Gigi Perkins (22:37), Kydee Shults (23:42) and Bryley Wulff (24:15). With all of these ladies returning next season we will be looking towards improving and advancing to regionals as a team.

In the boys race each of our runners gave their all. Leading the way was Oliver Crosthwaite who made it through the first mile in a season best time of 5:10 just behind the lead pack. He maintained his positioning passing two miles in 10:50 and heading up and over the levee for the final mile of the race. With a final surge at the end Oliver crossed the line 32nd place out of 174 runners, with a new personal best time of 17:00, just barely missing out on qualifying for the state meet as an individual. Oliver was followed by strong efforts from Daniel Osborne (19:05), Kellen Dunn (19:37), Tre Hensley (19:46), Caleb Osborne (20:01), Cherif Sore (20:50) and Connor Cole (24:37). We will be losing Caleb as our sole senior boy, but all other athletes will be returning next season and looking to qualify for regionals in back to back seasons for only the second time in school history.

Congratulations to all of our athletes on their accomplishments and the hard work they have been putting in since June to get to this point of the season. It has been a great year and next year has the potential to be even better. Also, best wishes to our two seniors, Caleb Osborne and Sarah Wallace as they graduate and head on to new adventures. That's a wrap!!