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The Rockbridge County High School cross country teams competed in the Valley District Mini Meet hosted by Broadway last Wednesday. Both the girls and boys teams had entries into the 5K event. Along with RC, Turner Ashby and the host Gobblers took part.
Wildcat Deena Ludtke placed first overall out of 19 runners in the girls’ race with a time of 20:55:38, beating runnerup Magdalena Lantz-Trissel from TA by over a minute (22:18.66). Commenting on Ludtke’s time, RC head coach Julie Tisone said, “It was a good run for her … a good effort to win that race.”
“The course was much hillier than our last one, and the pace wasn’t pushed,” Tisone added.
TA won the girls’ meet with 28 points, and RC came in second place with 29 points. Broadway did not register enough to place as a team.
Kate Holston finished in third place for the Wildcats with a time of 25:10.72. Nicole Black followed close behind Holston in fourth place with a mark of 25:13.15. Hannah Ivins came in 10th place at 28:40.91, and in 11th place was Alice Gresham with a time of 29:16.75.
Rounding out the Wildcats were four runners in a row: Emily Carroll in 15th place with a time of 31:23.44, Abigail Harding in 16th place at 31:38.22, Gemma Batis in 17th at 32:03 and Cate Skaggs in 18th place with a mark of 32:19.25.
“We had a bunch of runners go together in the race,” Tisone said. “It’s great they were all pushing each other.”
Broadway won the boys’ meet with 22 points, as the Gobblers placed all five of their scoring runners in the top nine. TA finished second with 43 points, and RC totaled 66 points.
Alexander Miller led the Wildcats in eighth place out of 31 runners with a time of 19:46.44.
The Wildcat boys then had four runners finish in a row, starting with Tyler Ludtke in 13th place with a time of 19:57.44. Fisher Howald followed in 14th place (20:11.94). Less than a second behind Howard was Trenten Cash in 15th place, running a time of 20:12.31. Oscar Mc-Clung came in 16th place at 20:19.03, and Chase Potter landed in 21st with a time of 21:55.09.
RC had another set of four runners to finish out the team’s performance. Konner Orebaugh ran a time of 26:03.72 for 27th place. Tristan Ripani was right behind Orebaugh, clocking a time of 26:04.18 for 28th place. Duman Abdurakhmanuly ran a time of 26:40.34 for 29th place, and Liam Stillwell posted a time of 28:10.15 for 30th. Preston Spangler did not run in order to have the load of mileage spread out over the season.
The Wildcats will race again today at Spotswood’s Town Park Invitational in Grottoes.
