Whiteoak Cross Country had an excellent evening on Wednesday at Bright Elementary winning three of the four team competitions against their county friends from Lynchburg-Clay and Greenfield.
Starting the races off was the junior high Lady ‘Cats finishing with a team score of 25 to edge the girls from Lynchburg who totaled 30 points. Leading the way for Whiteoak was Raelynn Ruble who won first place by an impressive two minutes over her next competitor and earning her fourth first place finish in five meets on the season. Ruble finished the two mile trek in 12:59. Ruble’s teammates fared well as Ann Ames finished third (15:19), Kara Ward 6th (16:54), Morgan Evans 7th (16:55) and Ariel Farahay finished 8th (17:39) to round out the scoring for Whiteoak. This was the junior high girls second first place finish on the season as they won the Dragon Run at West Union as well. The top finisher from Lynchburg Clay was Allie Etienne who took 2nd place with a time of 14:59. The top runner for Greenfield was Shayna Beatty who finished 14th with a time of 19:35.
The Whiteoak junior high boys were crowned champions as well but unfortunately Lynchburg and Greenfield were both just short on runners to qualify for a team score. The young boys of Whiteoak took nine of the top 13 places in the race of 23 runners. Leading the way for the Wildcats was Nick Bailey who finished 2nd with a time of 13:04. His teammates weren’t far behind as Josh Hughes was 3rd (13:14), Charlie Phillips 7th (14:22), Robbie Raines 8th (14:29), Bradley Ashbaugh 9th (14:40), Connor Butler 10th (14:45), Bryce Bailey 11th (15:20), Shane Davis 12th (15:25), Tristen Helterbrand 13th (15:48), Draiden Doughman 15th (16:45), Blake Dickey 16th (16:48), Nicholas McCann 17th (16:51), Trace Thompson 20th (19:13), Gabe Sheppard 21st (19:34) and Ryan Farahay 22nd (19:35). Lynchburg Clay found some glory in the race as Hunter Balon won 1st place in the race with a time of 12:36. Nathan Ernst led Greenfield with a 4th place finish at 13:15.
The high school boys race had three full teams and Whiteoak came away in first with 30 points, Lynchburg was second with 36 and Greenfield finished third with 64 points. Whiteoak was led by sophomore Atlee Carr who finished third place in the field of 27 runners with a time of 19:19. His teammate Hunter Morgan was 4th (19:34), Zach DeAtley 6th (19:46), Logan Cummings 8th (21:18), Jacob Campbell 9th (22:02), Zach Harless 11th (22:34), Cody Everhart 14th (24:29), Chase Butler 18th (25:34), Kyle Emery 22nd (27:07) and Gavin Tebo 23rd (27:54). All 10 Wildcat runners are freshman or sophomores. Lynchburg-Clay again had the top overall performer as Brandon McCammon took first place with a time of 18:43. Freshman Cannon Woolridge was the top performing Tiger runner finishing 2nd with a time of 18:59.
In the varsity girls race Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs were the only school to field a full team. The Lady Cats of Whiteoak were short by one runner but managed to have the first and second place finisher as Taylor Tackett was the race champion with a time of 24:03 and her teammate Kattie Taylor took runner up with a time of 24:33. Maggie Carr was 6th (27:04) and Katie Ames 7th (27:41) to round out the Lady Cats times. Senior Lexie Waits led Lynchburg with a 3rd place finish and a time of 24:44 and Natalie Cunningham led Greenfield with a 9th place finish and a time of 28:01.
