What a difference a day makes. Yesterday it was cold and rainy. But, today the sunshine and warmer temperature made for a beautiful day at Blue Eye High School. The Bulldogs hosted the South West Central League Championships this morning.
I enjoyed being back at a Cross-Country Meet. It is a sport that played a huge part in my life. I had a lot of success both at the high school and college level. And just being there brought back a lot of memories.
On the girls side, I knew going in that Blue Eye had a good chance to take the team title. Not sure I realized just how dominating they would be. Riley and Avery Arnold jumped out in front from the gun. By the mile mark they had separated themselves from the pack, with Avery leading her sister around the course. By the halfway point of the race they had increased their lead.
The second half of the race, Riley had taken the lead and had started to pull away from here sister, a bit. As the runners started nearing the finish line it was abundantly clear that Blue Eye was going to win the team championship, it was just a matter of waiting to see by how much. Riley would indeed lead the way, claiming individual honors, with a time of 19.43. Avery would finish just 27 seconds back to take runner up honors.
But, this is much more that just a two girl team. Braylynn Siercks was next to cross the finish line. She stopped the watch at 21:25. And Olivia LaBier made sure to keep the Lady Bulldog theme going. She secured the fourth spot at 21:52 out-sprinting and out-leaning Southwests Brylee Wilson who finished .1 seconds back and was the top finisher not to wear a Blue Eye singlet.
In Cross-Country you score the top FIVE runners from a team. A 15 is a perfect score. And while Blue Eye may not have pulled that off, Skye Hobbs 14th place finish helped them secure a 24 and a easy victory over second place Spokane, who finished 34 points back.
Madison Suffal showed they have a little depth finishing 24th.
On the guys side Spokane would have the top runner and the top team. Sam Shuman completed the course in 17:21. Blue Eye would be led by Chris Lemp and Ryan Cardenzana, who finished 2nd and 3rd. Ethan Webb, Roman Ray, and Keegan Hobbs would all finish in the top 25.
Blue Eye finished third in the team standings, just behind 2nd place Crane.
Districts will be held in Lamar next weekend.
