WILSON WARRIOR CROSS COUNTRY RUN

The Red Devil Cross Country teams took to the trails again this past Saturday, September 5 on the campus of Wilson High School in Florence, AL. It was a tough day for all of the runners as they faced extreme heat from the time they stepped up to the starting line to the time they came across the finish line.

Competing in the large school division (4A-7A), the Elkmont boy’s team finished 8th out of 15 teams and the girls team finished 7th out of 12 teams. Chase Prater (2nd) and Chance Bailey (15th) earned top 15 honors. Claudia Allen just missed top 15 with her 16th place finish and PR of 22:56. 

The finish line was an exciting vantage point for this spectator as the Red Devils showed strength in the final 160 meters of the race. After racing for 3 miles, sometimes the hardest part of the race is that .1 mile to round out the 5K distance. Most of the Red Devils finished the race sprinting, leaving nothing out on the course! 

All of the Running Red Devils did great at the meet but there are a few that I want to call out after this race – our new runners! 3 of our 7th graders, Lexxie Bailey (31:00), Jon Mikel Owens (25:14) and Jeffrey Payne (27:34), raced the varsity distance of 3.1 miles at this meet and they did great! Another new runner on the team is Luke Little, a junior that made the switch from football to cross country this year. This was his first ever cross country meet and he was the third runner for the Elkmont boy’s team with a time of 20:52! 



Elkmont Boys performances: 
Chase Prater – 17:32 (PR) 
Chance Bailey – 18:57 
Luke Little – 20:52 
Dalton Adams – 21:47 
Tiyler Walts – 23:07 
Jake Armstrong – 23:47 
Alex Armstrong – 23:49 
T2ee Boyd – 23:51 
Ethan Shores – 23:57 
James Walts – 25:04 
Jon Mikel Owens – 25:14 
Jeffrey Payne – 27:34 

Elkmont Girls performances: 

Claudia Allen – 22:56 (PR) 
Melanie Hernandez – 25:44 
Brianna Barnett – 26:34 
Hannah Hanback – 26:35 
Nikki Ristau – 27:54 
Ruth Ann Bates – 28:11 
Jazmin Ristau – 29:01 
Lexxie Bailey – 31:00 
Mia Farris – 31:03 
Britney Clem – 31:15 

The team will be running the 9/11 Heroes Run in Athens, AL on Saturday, September 12 and will return to interscholastic competition on Tuesday, September 15 at the Randolph Classic, better known as the Mud Run at UAH. It is a great race to come and watch – the course has them running through the creek 4 times and it can turn into a muddy mess! Come out and support these hard working athletes! They like to be cheered on just like any other athlete – it pushes them to run a little faster when they hear people cheering for them!


COACH PUGH'S CORNER:
We were in the large school category at today's HOT race (4A-7A). Girls finished 7th...Boys 8th. Great run by all! Chase 2nd and Chance 15th each receiving a t-shirt for their top 15 finish. First time 5K race for some 7th graders and they did a stand out job! I can't tell you how hard these kids work at practice and on race day! You want to see sheer guts......go to a XC race in the heat!