On Wednesday, Oct. 22, the Rockbridge County cross country teams competed at the Shenandoah District Championships in Waynesboro. The girls team placed fifth out of seventh place, while the boys placed first and were named District Champions.

Coming in first on the girls team was freshman Reagan Imler, placing seventh out of forty-five with a time of 21:36 on the 5k course. After Imler came senior Dorothy Lewis in twenty-first place with a time of 23:50, and after Lewis came senior Evelyn McClung in twenty-sixth place with a time of 24:49. Members of the girls team will soon get to compete in regionals this Wednesday, Oct. 29.

As for the boys team, sophomore Lief Guse led the team in second place with a time of 17:27. Second on the team and third overall came junior Tyler Ludtke with a time of 17:30, and rounding out the top three on the team and fourth overall was junior Sammy Eastwood with a time of 17:34. 

Sophomore Grant Swenty, who placed 6th overall, speaks on why the team was successful.

“We have a lot of fast runners all close together in times near the front, and so we were able to be successful because of that,” Swenty said.

The Wildcats moved on to regionals which took place on Oct. 29, and the team is now preparing for states. Junior Oscar McClung elaborates on the preparation and the competition they will face. 

“The team is ranked second in the state behind Western Albemarle. They outran us at regionals, but a lot of our times improved so our times are closer to theirs now. We have a chance to win states this year, but it’s gonna be a very difficult race for the whole team, and everyone will have to perform their best,” McClung said.

The state meet is on Nov. 8 in Salem. We wish the best of luck to all of our cross country runners!