Ruston cross country head coach Dustin Cochran earned a tremendous statewide honor by the National Federation of State High School Associations: the 2021-22 Louisiana Girls’ Cross Country Coach of the year.
“I want to give full credit to the team,” Cochran said after winning the award. “I really can’t say enough about them. Most of those girls are still here; at the beginning of the year, I don’t think anybody had us pegged to be as good as they’ve ended up being. It was really cool and fun to watch them all grow together. By the end of the regular season, they’ve really put it together. It’s a great group of kids and one of favorite teams that I’ve been able to coach.”
Ruston’s girls’ squad has had multiple impressive showings throughout the season; most recently, at the Lake Hamilton Cross Country Invitational in Hot Springs, Ark. The Lady Bearcats finished second overall at an out-of-state meet facing fierce competition, including Fayetteville High School.
Senior Lily Garrett placed fifth overall in the girl’s 5K race with a time of 18 minutes, 57.16 seconds. Garrett has already committed to running collegiately with the Lady Volunteers at the University of Tennessee.
Sophomore Parker Nations finished eighth at 19:22.62, while sophomore Sara Naff finished twelfth at 20:06.15. Sophomore Sydney Owens placed 18th overall at 20:27.83. Rounding out Ruston’s scorers was junior Zoie Holstead at 21:26.71.
As the regular season has now winded down, the Lady Bearcats will head into postseason starting Thursday, Oct. 27, at the North Louisiana Cross Country Championships in Monroe.
