By Kyle Roberts
BENTON, La. — Ruston High School wrapped up the 2024 cross country regular season with a first place finish for the girls and second place for the boys at the Benton High Classic.
“It was a good day for us in our last meet before championship season,” Ruston High head coach Dustin Cochran said. “The girls had a plethora of bad breaks in our last meet, and they bounced back in a big way this weekend.”
The Lady Bearcats (1+2+6+7+13=29) finished first with an average time of 19 minutes, 2 seconds per runner on the three-mile track.
Freshman Eden Dawsey led the girls with a first place finish overall at 18:12.60, while junior Hallie Hebert was right behind in second at 18:15.30.
Senior Parker Nations finished sixth overall at 19:02.00, while senior Sydney Owens took seventh at 19:17.60. Junior Maddy Parkman took 13th at 20:24.10 to round out Ruston’s scoring.
“Eden and Hallie are on an absolute tear out front for us,” Cochran said. “Traditionally, Ruston has been a top program in Louisiana for a long time, and there are only a couple of Bearcats who have ever run faster than them. It really speaks to what they’ve been doing and how consistent they’ve been all season. I think coaches can talk all they want about what we think needs to happen, but it’s ultimately the athletes that really set the standard for everyone, and these two are setting a high one for this program.
“Parker and Sydney are getting better and better and their senior leadership really helps us out. Both of these girls have been all state runners in cross country and track and as they get healthier and sharper for the big races we could become a scary team.”
Cochran added how happy he was with Parkman’s finish for the team after having a long battle with injuries.
“Maddy missed her entire sophomore season and half of this one,” Cochran said. “It’s very hard to keep looking long term for anyone, but Maddy has battled and battled. I’ve seen a lot people give up when things don’t go their way. I’ve only seen Maddy get stronger. I think it speaks a ton about the way she was raised and how much she cares about the other girls on the team. I don’t hear excuses from Maddy. We only talk solutions. She’s the type of athlete every coach hopes walks through the door.”
On the boys’ side, the Bearcats took second (8+9+12+14+20=63) with junior Taylor Huddleston finishing eighth officially at 15:38.10, with junior Al-Amin Wilson right behind at ninth with a 15:39.70 finish.
Junior Joshua Daulton took 12th at 16:02.70, while junior Luke Braswell finished 14th at 16:16.70.
Freshman Billy Rufleth finished 20th overall at 16:46.70 to round out boys’ scoring.
“The boys team is continuing to go out and get better and better,” Coachran said. “They’ve been consistent and should be in line for a big race soon. We found out a lot about where we’re at this weekend. They had a race plan that we haven’t followed all year, but we needed to try it to see exactly where we were at. For two-third’s of the race we looked really strong. With the right intensity and some smart training, this team is going to be very good by the state meet and running lane. I really enjoy this team. They really like each other and they compete really hard.
In the junior varsity races, junior Myles Head-Carpenter took first overall at 15:06.70 for the boys and sophomore Madison Morris took first at 19:52.70 for the girls.
“Myles running 15:06 by himself in the JV race shows just how fit these guys are,” Cochran said.
Ruston will run in the North Louisiana Championships on Thursday, Oct. 31.
