Highland Cross Country team at Gans Creek

The Highland Cross Country team competed at Gans Creek in Columbia on Saturday, October 22. Coach French said, “It was another great day for Highland Cross Country!” Highland did not have a enough runners to field a team in any of the races, but there were some great individual races.

The Junior High girls ran first. Highland’s Haleigha Reimers had a strong race, bringing home a 20th place medal with a time of 14:16 in the 3000m race. AJ Caudill was not far behind, finishing in 29th place with a 15:03. Isabella Hamlin finished in 67th place with a time of 30:52. Isaac Roberts was Highland’s only JH boy runner and he finished in 34th place with a 13:57.

For the High School, Kacyie Stahl continued her quest to earn a return to the state meet this season and finished with another personal best. Stahl finished in 15th Place with a time of 22:07 on the 5000m state course. She was the only Highland varsity female that competed Saturday. The varsity boys had three cougars racing Saturday: Ethan Clow (21st), Nathan Caudill (43rd), and Gage Rudd (44th). Coach French said, “It is a little disheartening for Ethan because this is the 2nd time, in both of the last 2 meets, where he finished 1 spot away from earning a medal.” Clow finished with a respectable 19:17 and less than 4 seconds behind the 20th spot, which would have earned him a place on the medal stand. Coach French shared that he wanted Ethan to remain positive as he has a good chance of earning a trip to the state championships with his continued strong performances and improvement. French was also proud of his other two runners, Nathan Caudill finished strong with a 20:49 just edging out Highland Junior Gage Rudd, who had a 20:51. Coach French said he is super proud of all the Cougar runners who competed today, “the ones putting in the work are competing and competing well!” The Highland coaches are hoping to have the Cougars represented in both the boys and girls state championship races this year.

The Cougars travel to Clopton for the annual Hamburger meet on Monday. This will be the last official race for the JH runners, but the varsity runners will compete at Salisbury the following Monday, then Bowling Green on that Friday before heading to Fulton for the District races. Good luck this week to the Cougar Cross Country Team!