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WCHS cross country wins at Webb
As the season has progressed, the Pioneers have gotten faster and faster. The field at Thursday’s MSCCA Invitational held at Webb found out just how fast the Warren County cross country team can go when its firing on all cylinders.
The Pioneers were the best team at the race, taking top honors in a 12-team field. Warren County, which took 16 runners, had its five scorers all finish in the top 25, led by Caleb Stovall’s third-place finish. Warren County posted a low score of 66, edging out Christ Presbyterian Academy (72 points) and Donelson Christian Academy (78 points).
Stovall has been a huge boost for the Pioneers after coming over from Covenant Academy. He was a force at the lead during the entire 5K, becoming one of just three runners to complete the race in less than 18 minutes. Stovall turned in a time of 17:37.37, only beaten by CPA’s Jack Radbill (16:38.47) and DCA’s Drew Johnson (16:53.42).
Warren County came out of the event with two top-10 finishers, joining DCA and Watertown as the only schools to accomplish that feat. Senior Alec Smith turned in a top-10 time of 19:36.75, helping the Pioneers stay low in the scoring.
In cross country, team scores are accrued by the finishes of the group’s top-five runners. Teams can take a larger number of runners, but only the top-five finishers have their results counted in the finish. Two more runners can also be scored, though their places are just used to displace the points for other teams (Individual competitors aren’t scored, therefore some team-applied scores can come in lower than their overall race finish).
Rounding out the Pioneers’ team score was Kamrin McLaughlin (13th overall, 19:57.00), Julian Martinez (20th, 20:35.86) and Connor Gremillion (24th, 20:44.11). Zachary Perry just missed being on the team score, notching 27th with a time of 20:48.74.
Perry’s run was important on the team scoring though. He came in before the fifth runner from CPA and DCA, making their score just a little bit higher in a tight race.
Other finishers for the Pioneers were: Aiden Cano (43rd, 21:31.80), Jorge Vazquez (45th, 21:33.66), Luke Winkler (58th, 22:27.25), Cooper Bailey (61st, 22:37.69), Mitchell Caten (63rd, 22:39.48), Austin Craft (72nd, 23:17.07), Joseph Toney (78th, 23:32.63), Vincent Garrison (93rd, 24:33.33), Anthony Johnson (95th, 24:45.78) and Dominick Marquez (120th, 29:49.46).
First picture - Emma Randall pushes hard toward the finish line.
Second - London Caten takes her last strides in Thursday's 5K race.
Last - Caleb Stovall picks up his medal for finishing third. (Photos provided)
On the girls side, Warren County also had a standout. Emma Randall finished fifth overall in a field of 83 runners, crossing the line in 22:54.35. The senior was just behind some of the top runners in the state, including winner Lexie Laduc from Cannon County, who ran the course in 21:13.76. Others in the top five on the girls side were the aptly named Julia Speedy (2nd, 21:46.51) from CPA, DCA’s Allie Bledsoe (3rd, 22:11.27) and Lincoln County’s Sadie Wisner (4th, 22:19.67).
The Lady Pioneers brought five runners to Webb. Also finishing for the Lady Pioneers were London Caten (32nd, 25:08.41), Marissa Walker (60th, 28:52.60), Avery McGiboney (67th, 31:14.96) and Rachel Maneiro (75th, 33:05.09).
The event included teams from CPA, DCA, Lincoln County, Webb, Cascade, Forrest, Marshall County, Smyrna, Watertown, Cannon County and Shelbyville.