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The Rockbridge County and Parry McCluer high school cross country teams both competed in the Alleghany XC Invitational on Saturday in Covington.
The Fighting Blues’ Kovyk Chandler won the boys’ 5K race, with his team finishing third overall, and the Wildcats came in ninth. In the girls’ 5K, RC secured a fourth-place showing – including a thirdplace run by Deena Ludtke – while PM had two individual runners competing.
On the boys’ side, the Blues had six runners in their team. PM totaled 120 points and tallied a 17:21 average split for the third-place finish. The Blues were beaten out by Christiansburg in first place and Floyd County in second, but all of the PM runners had personal bests in the race.
“It wasn’t a miraculous effort for them to all PR,” said head coach Chris Poluikis. “Everyone is just a whole year better and has progressed. That being said, I still couldn’t have hoped for a better result.”
Leading the Blues was Chandler, who finished first overall out of 154 runners in the race with a time of 15:50.47. Chandler broke the course record by six seconds in his effort.
“It was a great race by Kovyk,” Poluikis said. “He never really lost any ground in the race. The conditions were great for the PR.”
Kovyk’s younger brother, Kebryl, followed him in fifth place with a time of 16:22.85. Logan Wheelock and Josh Cooper came in 15th and 27th place respectively, with Wheelock finishing in a time of 17:12.74 and Cooper coming in at 17:43.78. Sam Carpenter came in 79th place with a time of 19:38.60, and Caden Mason finished it out for the Blues in 144th place with a time of 25:01.30.
RC placed fourth out of 16 teams in the girls’ event, totaling 131 points and an average time split of 21:31. Ludtke came in third overall out of 131 runners with a time of 19:29:91.
Dorothy Lewis placed 23rd with a time of 21:11:11. Brooke Eichelberger came in 37th place in 22:09:07, and she was quickly followed by Anna Nye in 38th at 22:09.13. Nicole Black ran a time of 22:36:85 for 51st place. Rounding out the Wildcats were Kate Holston in 70th place (23:41.33) and Ruby Goodhart in 72nd place (23:53.04).
Also competing for the Blues were Jasmine De Souza and Kyra Lee, who both raced individually in the girls’ 5K. De Souza finished 32nd out of 131 runners with a time of 21:48.11, and Lee placed 36th with a time of 22:03.27.
Back on the boys’ side, RC placed ninth out of 20 teams with 236 points and an 18:32 average split. Preston Spangler came in ninth place with a time of 16:30.27. Tyler Ludtke and Sammy Eastwood finished back-to-back in 45th and 46th place with times of 18:32.34 and 18:32.49. Oscar McClung placed 74th for the Wildcats with a time of 19:31:90, and Trenten Cash came in 78th place with a time of 19:35.24.
RC is slated to compete in a Valley District race at Broadway this evening. PM will return to action at the MileStat. com XC Invitational in Mechanicsville on Saturday, Oct. 14.
