BATON ROUGE — Chalk up another terrific weekend for Ruston High cross country.
Down in South Louisiana at the Highland Road Park in Baton Rouge, Ruston’s boys took first place overall in the second race of the season while the girls ended with an impressive second place finish.
“I’m really happy for our kids this weekend,” Ruston High Cross Country Coach Dustin Cochran said. “It’s always fun to travel down to Baton Rouge and compete against a lot of the best kids in the state. We had two really good team races, a lot of personal records or seasons best runs, and one really happy coaching staff. For September I’m always preaching process over results. These 14 young ladies and men have been embodying that so far this season. This was the most laser-focused I’ve seen a group in a couple of years at a meet. They had fun, but everything they did, they did the right way. They traveled well, they behaved at the hotel, they warmed up well, raced really tough, and then cooled down well.”
Ruston’s boys took the top team spot with a score of 114 (8+12+19+35+40 (49+68)), beating Central Lafource by nine points in the three-mile course.
Senior Al-Amin Wilson lead the Bearcat pack with a time of 15 minutes, 39.82 seconds, while senior Joshua Daulton finished took 12th at 15:42.83. Senior Luke Braswell gave a 19th place performance at 16:00.66, and senior Ben Boudreaux took 35th with a time of 16:22.00. Junior Wyatt Hancock rounded out Bearcat scorers at 16:31.25 for 40th place.
Junior Preston Parker also turned in a 49th place finish (16:45.13) and sophomore Billy Rufleth took 68th overall at 17:07.37.
On the girls’ side, the Lady Bearcats took second overall at 109 (5+11+24+30+39 (69+105)) with sophomore Eden Dawsey taking fifth overall at 18:03.48. Senior Hallie Hebert took 11th overall with a time of 18:27.49, while junior Madison Morris finished at 19:20.60 for 24th place.
Senior Maddy Parkman turned in a time of 19:37.40 (30th), while Addison Brister took 39th to round out scoring with a time of 20:03.28. Sophomore Mary Hamond finished 69th overall at 20:49.62, while junior Diana Santos took 105th at 22:01.85.
“At the season opener we asked everyone to start slow and work to a spot we needed them and finish,” Cochran said. “We did that and picked up team wins. At SJA this weekend, we asked them to start faster, get to the right spot even with 300 runners out there, and compete really hard in the bumping and the shoving and the traffic. We did that and we picked up a team win for the boys and a really competitive runner up finish for our girls. I think it says a lot about a group of kids when they listen to what you want, trust it, then go execute it. We’ve got a selfless group. They don’t have to have it their way all the time. They’re helping each other get better and racing for each other.
“I’m impressed with the quick times so far. If we keep everyone healthy, and stay motivated, as we sharpen up we should be able to compete really well as the season goes on. I’m really looking forward to October and November and seeing what this team can do. You want to go out and represent Ruston well everytime we step on the course. We’re 2-for-2 on doing that this season and we aim to keep that going.”
Ruston High will host its home meet this weekend on Saturday, Oct. 4, with varsity girls running at 7:30 a.m. and the boys running at 8 a.m.
