Marshall County’s boys took the team win on Saturday at the Calloway County Invitational, led by a sixth place finish from Ethan McCarty who ran the 5K course in 18:20. Calloway County’s Daniel Puckett won with a time of 16:42.
The Marshals had four runners finish in the top 15, following McCarty, Sawyer Collins finished 12th (19:05), Daniel Walker 13th (19:20) and Walker Jones 15th (19:21). Rounding out team results, Eli Rudd 35th (20:55), Sam Martin 65th (23:14) and Gabriel Niloff 89th (27:07).
Head Coach Chris Kerrick said the team has plenty of work to do but are aware of what it will take to get back to the state meet and are slowly improving and the training is there.
“I know they will get there by the end of the season, however, so I’m not overly concerned”, Kerrick said. “I’m confident in our training and I understand they can’t and shouldn’t PR every race day.”
Kerrick said the younger guys like Daniel Walker and Sam Martin are learning while making the transition from the shorter middle school races to racing against juniors and seniors. Daniel has been one of their top five scorers in the first two meets this season. Kerrick said he expects these two to be front runners their junior and senior years.
“I hope they just continue to love the sport, continue to improve and know it’s okay they aren’t winning races or in the spotlight all the time.” Kerrick said. “But this is cross country. When it comes to the team, it’s about every member…from our one to our seven runner. They are all valuable even if they aren’t scoring. Gabriel Niloff, for example, did not score for us but set a new PR. I’m proud of him for that!”
For the girls’ team, only two competed in Saturday’s meet but ran very well. Addison Lyles placed third with a time of 21:31 and Katelynn Ringstaff finished 13th in 23:11. St. Mary’s Gabby Ault took the win and stopped the clock at 20:28.
“We have a few new runners who were out this weekend, and we share a middle school runner so we were not at full strength”, Kerrick said. “Mentally, that’s tough on the two who do race and it’s really challenging for Katelynn because she trains alone due to Addison being a full-time soccer player. Despite these obstacles, they continue to race well. This is Katelynn’s first full year with us because we shared her with soccer last year.”
Marshall’s middle school boys team also took first on Saturday, led by Fisher Beth who finished the 2500m race in 9:35 to place second. Another top ten finish came from Thatcher Newnum who placed eighth in 10:04 and just out of the top ten, Owen Futrell finished 11th with 10:11.
For the middle school girls, leading the way was Braelyn Spalding who finished seventh in 11:17.
The team will head to Madisonville for their next meet on September 17th, then host the Marshall County Invitational on September 24th.
