Houston cross country runners shine at Mountain Grove meet

Houston cross country runners turned in several memorable performances in the annual Mountain Grove Open Tuesday at Randel-Hinkle Municipal Golf Course.

Included in the Tigers’ and Lady Tigers’ big outings were several victories and numerous personal-record times.

In high school varsity racing, Houston took first place on both the boys and girls team standings.

The boys had two athletes finish in the top-10 in a field of 51 runners, as junior Jack Sawyer came in second with a PR time of 18:14.01 on the fast 3.1-meter course, while senior Riley Talbott placed 10 ^th with a PR of 19:05.08. Making up the rest of the Tigers’ 5-runner team score were junior Jackson Evetts in 12 ^th with a PR of 19:20.18, junior Warren Hinkle in 14 ^th at 19:29.77 and senior Connor McKinney in 17 ^th at 19:51.48.

Also setting PRs while running for Houston were freshmen Christopher Meier (18 ^th ), Gage Smith (25 ^th ), Micheal Perez (26 ^th ), Thomas Kincaid (32 ^nd ) and Ryan Haslett (49 ^th ), along with juniors Ryan Painter (33 ^rd ) and Shane Yonkers (42 ^nd ).

The HHS girls were the only squad with enough runners to generate a team score.

Senior Kristen Ely led the Lady Tigers by finishing second in a field of 21 with a time of 21:58.34. Next for Houston was freshman Jessyn Allen in fourth with a PR of 23:08.80, while junior Lilly Kincaid came in sixth at 23:41.28, junior Natalie Clinton placed 12 ^th at 25:34.50 and senior Allie Benoist finished 14 ^th at 26:18.39.

In middle school racing, Houston squads topped both the boys and girls team standings, with the Tigers topping four other teams with scores and the Lady Tigers outscoring one other team.

HMS 7 ^th -grader Oliver Choate continued his winning ways by placing first in a field of 44 with a time of 9:02.77 on the 2,400-meter course. Seven of the next eight Houston runners to finish all set PRs. Rounding out the team score were 7 ^th -graders Charlie Benoist in third at 9:23.68 (PR) and Liam Stickel in fifth at 9:34.47 (PR), and 6 ^th -graders Rocky Gilbert in 11 ^th at 10:27.21 (PR) and Easton Hinkle in 24 ^th at 11:22.20. Sixth-graders Dominic Stice, Ryker Wilson and Fenton Choate, and 7 ^th -grader Ethan Grant also ran for Houston and set PRs.

HMS 7 ^th -grader Myles Copley won the junior high girls race, topping a field of 26 runners with a time of 9:32.71 – shaving a whopping 12 seconds of her previous best time. The rest of the Lady Tigers’ score came from 7 ^th -grader Haddlie Miller in third with PR of 11:25.94, 6 ^th -grader Hayden Jones in fourth with a PR of 11:27.14, 8 ^th -grader Savannah Evetts in 10 ^th at 12:41.91 and 6 ^th -grader Keira Kelly in 13 ^th at 12:57.90, also a PR.

Houston had one runner in the elementary boys race, as 5 ^th -grader Tucker Williams   placed 12 ^th in a field of 23 with a time of 12:51.13.

Next week, Houston hosts the annual Tiger Trail Invitational on Tuesday at Houston Municipal Golf Course, and will compete Thursday at the annual Licking Invitational.

The South Central Association conference championships meet is set for Monday, Oct. 14, at Willow Springs Municipal Golf Course.

The post Houston cross country runners shine at Mountain Grove meet appeared first on Houston Herald .