Fort Campbell’s Underwood Wins Varsity XC Debut

Emmie Underwood made quite the first impression in her first varsity cross country race.

The Fort Campbell seventh grader wasted no time in throwing her name into the hat for region cross country contention this year after winning the Christian County Season Opener Saturday morning in Hopkinsville.

Underwood mostly led wire-to-wire, covering the 3.1-mile rolling course in 19:56 and flashing a big smile as she crossed the finish line four seconds ahead of second place Addison Lyles of Marshall County.

It’s just the 10^th time in the past 22 years that a Fort Campbell girls’ runner got in under the 20-minute mark. Meg Lubas did it last year at the Daviess County Classic.

Charis Botelho has the Fort Campbell 5K school record at 19:02 run in 2001.

Underwood’s win comes after a middle school season that saw her win eight straight races, finishing third at the middle school meet of champions last year, and claiming 32^nd out of 212 runners at the middle school nationals in Louisville.

Another Fort Campbell runner was strong in her debut as Makayla Finn crossed the line in eighth place in 23:44.

Ava Roberts finished in 22^nd place (25:57), followed by Sophia McDonald (30^th, 26:53); Emma Pirner (34^th, 27:05); Natalie Mason (42^nd, 29:49); and Sophia Thompson (47^th, 30:26).

As a team, Fort Campbell took runner-up honors with 77 points, 11 points more than third place Webster County. Bowling Green won the championship with 48 points.