Christian County will be sending a team to run in the Class 3A State Cross Country Meet for the first time in 16 years.
It looked dicey early as one of the Colonel runners had to leave the race with a foot injury, but their top five runners finished within 1:39 of each other – the third-best grouping of the ten teams that competed.
Wyatt Fleming was the first Colonel to cross the finish line in 17:34 over Marshall County’s rolling 3.1-mile course that features an uphill climb to the finish. His time was a new personal best by 15 seconds.
Michael Webb came in 16th place in 17:52. Rex Taggart finished in 35th place in a time of 18:36, missing a new best by eight seconds but breaking the 19:00 barrier for the second straight week.
JT Miles ran an 18:55 to finish in 41st place, while seventh grader Bryce Hamlin stepped in and finished 45th in 19:13.
Joseph Parker ran a 19:28 to come in 47th place.
Freshman Cayden Cline, who finished 15th at last year’s region meet and had three top-10 finishes this year, injured his foot earlier in the month and had not competed since October 5. He gave it a go on Saturday but was unable to finish the race.
His teammates were able to rally the Colonels to a fifth-place finish with 148 points, 20 points ahead of sixth-place Owensboro.
It will be Christian County’s first state meet appearance since 2008. The Colonels will run in the 3A meet Saturday at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.
(Photos by Ashlyn Brown)
