By Kyle Roberts
Ruston High’s boys’ cross country team wrapped up its impressive 2023 regular season campaign following a second place finish this past weekend at the Watson High School Cross Country Classic in Clinton, Miss., after scoring 87 (1+8+14+31+34) total points in the Boys Gold Race, with senior Thomas Rogers finishing first overall.
“This meet wraps up the regular season for us, and we are really looking forward to getting to post season racing,” Ruston High cross country coach Dustin Cochran said. “Even competing in a meet during fall break where it’s easy to get distracted or people are out of town, we got some awesome performances from some of the kids.”
Rogers ran a time of 14 minutes, 49 seconds for first overall, sophomore Taylor Roller finished eighth at 15:19. Senior Landon Byrd took 14th at 15:38, while sophomore Josh Daulton finished 31st at 16:03.
Sophomore Al-Amin Wilson ran a time of 16:10 for 35th to round out scoring. Senior Liam Lowe finished 40th on the day at 16:17, while senior Cole Magee finished at 17:10 for 64th.
The junior varsity team also competed in the Silver Boys Race finished just three points shy of West Monroe’s varsity team for third place at 115 points (14+15+21+22+45).
Freshman Preston Parker impressed with a 14th overall finish at 16:50, while sophomore Tyler Roller finished right behind at 15th with a time of 16:55.
Sophomore Luke Braswell took 21st at 17:15, while sophomore Ben Boudreaux took 22nd at 17:16. Junior Josiah Finley finished 44th at 17:38 to round out junior varsity scoring.
Senior Brennan Youngblood took 68th at 18:20, while freshman Wyatt Hancock finished 18:40 for 86th place.
“We’re super proud of Luke Braswell,” Cochran said. “Luke hasn’t run since mid-July because of an injury. He got back to it last week and immediately made an impact. He was our third man in the silver race and helped our JV group come within 3 points of West Monroe’s varsity squad. He has shown a lot of grit and determination while he has been injured. He has stuck to the plan and cross trained very hard during his time away. Top 21 finishers get t-shirts at the Watson meet. He was able to snag the last shirt, and that honestly brought a tear to my eye watching him receive that award. It is very very nice to see a kid who works so hard and is so dedicated to what we are doing have success.”
In the Girls Gold Race, the Lady Bearcats finished 14th overall (20+44+53+65+95).
Junior Parker Nations led the Lady Bearcats at 19:11, while senior Zoie Holstead took 54th at 20:14. Sophomore Hallie Hebert ran 20:54 for 64th, while freshman Emmersyn Nations took 78th place at 21:40. Freshman Aydan Murry rounded out scoring at 23:14 for 112th. Freshman Josie Bishop also ran 23:19 for 115th place.
Freshman Diana Santos ran 24:51 for 131st, which Cochran pointed out as a terrific improvement.
“Santos ran a PR of over one minute,” Cochran said. “Diana started the season running three miles in 30 minutes, and she has now worked down to running three miles in 24. She shows up and she puts in the work. At this point in the season to see a kid go out and get a 1 min PR is awesome With 3 more races to go, there’s no telling where she can get to; we’re excited for her and to see what she does in the postseason.”
