2 runners advance to regional
For the second year in a row, Albany had two runners qualify for the Region II-2A cross country meet with their finishes at the district meet.
Freshman Ashlyn Miller and junior Jonathan Coody will compete Tuesday, Oct. 24 at Lynn Creek Park in Grand Prairie.
“Both of them have done a reallygoodjob,havingtojuggle cheer, band, and volleyball,” coach Lauren Peacock said. “They have a lot going on. I’m proud of the way they’ve handled everything.”
The Class 2A regional girls raceisscheduledfor10:00a.m. withtheboysraceat10:30a.m.
“We’ll walk the course the day before to let the kids see what it’s like,” Peacock said.
Coodyqualifiedforhisthird regional meet by finishing seventh in the varsity boys raceatthedistrictmeet,which was run Wednesday, Oct. 11 at Hawley. Coody ran 18:59 over the 5,000-meter course.
Coody credits a steady training regimen and “genetics” for putting him in position to advance.
“It’s a matter of keeping myself consistently in shape,” Coody said.
Miller placed eighth in the varsity girls race, covering two miles in 13:16.
“I think it was staying with what Coach Peacock told me,” Miller said. “She told me to stay up with one of the girls who was close to my time, and I tried to do that the whole time.”
Miller said running in a relatively small field was a new experience.
“It makes me feel better that there’s not as many people,”shesaid,“butitalso makes me nervous because there’s better chances of themgettinginfrontofme.”
Peacock said both athletes improved on times theyranonthesamecourse atameetfourweeksearlier.
“Ashlyn ran 45 seconds faster and Jonathan ran about 15 seconds faster,” she said. “They both knew what the expectation was andwhattheywerefacing.”
Peacock said both were able to avoid trouble at the starting line.
“Ashlyn got a great start and finished well,” she said. “Jonathan struggled at the beginning but was able to go get guys one at a time.”
Also in the varsity girls race, Avery Everitt was 18th in 14:07, and Sidney Russell was 25th in 14:38.
“Avery dropped about 20 seconds and did very well,” Peacock said. “It’ll be interesting to see how that transfers to the track in the spring.”
In the JV boys race, Jerrod Moses finished second. Official times were not reported for the JV races.
Junior High
Albany claimed two team awards in the junior high division, winning the seventh grade girls team title and taking second in the junior high boys standings.
The seventh grade girls hadthreemedalistsinHattie Fikes (fourth, 11:08), Tinley Hefner (fifth, 11:11) andKeeleyBritting(eighth, 11:25). Other team members were Hailey Gleitz (16th, 12:12) Haiden Niell (22nd, 12:34), Kynlee Milligan (24th, 12:44) andAvery Gleitz (30th, 13:04) In the eighth grade girls race, Cayla Green finished 11th in 11:50.
“The girls have been pretty consistent,” Peacock said. “We had 34 say they wanted to run. They’ve all stayed with it, showed up fortheirpractices,andtheir hard work paid off.”
Medalistsintheboysrace were Trevor Bellah (fourth, 12:35.30), Lyle Wheeler (fifth, 12:35.69) and Blake Britting (seventh, 13:13).
“The boys have been super competitive all year,” Peacock said. “Trevor, Blake, and Lyle have been pretty consistent and just wanted to go win.”
“Other Albany results were Bentley Boyett (12th, 13:36), Slayton Parsons (19th, 14:03), Aiden Vickers (22nd, 14:22), Rush Kidd(25th,14:32),Graham Ceder (26th,14:42), Henry Wright (27th, 14:53), and Ben Russell (28th, 14:57). Other participants were Ace Townson, Levi Murphy, Zaiden Dockins, and Landon Edwards.
