By Kyle Roberts
RUSTON, La. — Ruston High’s cross country squads once again stand atop the district as both the boys and girls took first place overall in the North Louisiana Cross Country Championships Thursday at The Gospel.
“I’m proud of our teams and what they accomplished Thursday at the meet,” Ruston High Head Coach Dustin Cochran said. “A few years ago, me and Coach McDuffie (West Monroe) decided to open our district meet up to the smaller schools in the area and call it the North Louisiana Championships. We get to continue the tradition of the District 2-5A meet, plus it has been a lot of fun to see the meet grow and become a more competitive event on our schedule.
“(The meet) marked district title number eight in a row for the boys and number six in a row for the girls. I think the continued success says a lot about our kids and the program they’ve worked to establish. In the past eight years, there have been so many kids that have come through and given their all to the program, and honestly left it in a better place than they found it.
“This time of year, I like to reminisce about some of the past teams and the individuals that made them special. Octavio Tilley and Marina Givens were my first district champs as a head coach at Ruston, and there have been so many great names that have followed them. Dyllon Nimmers, Caleb Babineaux, Lily Garrett, and Thomas Rogers were all district champions, and eventually became state champions either in cross country or on the track. I look at this years’ team and I still see reminders of those kids and what they worked for every day.”
The Lady Bearcats took first place overall at 18 points (1+2+3+4+8 (9+12)) thanks to claiming all of the first four places, beating second-place Sterlington by 46 points. Sophomore Eden Dawsey led the way with a time of 18 minutes, 17 seconds, while senior Hallie Hebert took second at 18:49. Junior Madison Morris took third at 19:27, while Addison Brister turned in a time of 20:02 for fourth.
Junior Aydan Murry rounded out the scoring for the Lady Bearcats at 21:01 for eighth.
“Eden Dawsey added her name to the long line of champions yesterday, notching her first cross country district title,” Cochran said. “The thing I really like about Eden is no matter how big or small the meet is, she remains consistent and gives her best effort. It’s a lot easier to coach knowing she’s running at the front and leading our girls. The girls’ team as a whole ran well yesterday and did what we needed to do to be successful. This time of year I’m not looking at times so much, but rather who you beat. Championship season is all about placing and beating people when it matters. The girls went 1-4 individually and we got a lot of seasons best performances behind them. This is a great group of girls and I look forward to them stepping up their level of focus and execution as we head to each round of the postseason.”
Other Lady Bearcat finishes include:
- Mary Hammond 21:11
- Diana Santos 22:11
- Harper Anderson 22:43
- Emmersyn Nations 23:05
- Lyla Boudreaux 23:11
- Lilly Turpin 23:35
- Rylie Nations 25:13
On the boys’ side, the Bearcats took first with 24 points (2+3+4+6+9 (11+12)), 49 points better than second place West Monroe.
Senior Al-Amin Wilson finished second overall at 15:52, while senior Luke Braswell took third at 15:55. Senior Ben Boudreaux finished fourth at 15:56, and senior Joshua Daulton grabbed a sixth place finish with a time of 16:05. Junior Wyatt Hancock rounded out the scoring for Ruston at 16:25.
“I thought the boys went out and competed really well yesterday,” Cochran said. “Joshua Daulton continues to be a steady leader for this team, and Luke Braswell is the heart and soul of what we do. Those two and AJ have been super consistent for us this year and given us the ability to be successful every time out. I was really happy to see Boudreaux and (sophomore) Billy Rufleth get in the mix yesterday. Those two have enormous potential and have done some really good consistent training all year. The race results hadn’t been what they wanted so far this season, but they stuck with it, allowed themselves to have fun with their teammates, and are getting sharp at the right time of the year.”
Other notable Bearcat finishes:
- 11. Billy Rufleth 16:33
- 13. Preston Parker 16:37
- 14. Kellen Ketchum 16:41
- 15. Charlie Rufleth 16:59
- 16. Eli Watson 17:03
- 19. Zion Henderson 17:18
- 21. Lucas Watts 17:23
- 22. Drake Purvis 17:26
- 24. Keegan Boudreaux 17:35
- 34. Tate Hammond 18:03
- 36. Owen Hanchey 18:07
- 44. Ian Richardson 18:37
- 53. Brady Berg 19:16
- 65. Landon Newsom 20:08
“We’re blessed to have 21 boys on the team this year, and they’re all doing their part to raise the standard for this team,” Cochran said. “Our top runners have changed every meet this season and it speaks to the depth they’ve worked hard to build. Yesterday, I scored our Junior Varsity boys (8-14) into the meet, and they would’ve beat both West Monroe and Alexandria’s Varsity teams for district runner-up honors. It takes a lot to be a Varsity runner at Ruston these days and its all because of how these kids are starting to approach their day to day training. As a coach headed into the most critical part of the season, I couldn’t be happier.”
Choudrant also competed in the event, with five Aggie runners and one Lady Aggie running in the event. Junior Collin Rozelle finished 39th overall at 19:53, while junior Landry Henry took 41st at 21:10. Sophomore Braxton Smith took 42nd with a time of 21:27, and sophomore Charles Lynn finished 47th at 25:49. Sophomore Kyle Mills finished 50th at 29:35.
On the Lady Aggie side, freshman Audrey Hoblron had an unofficial 33rd place finish with a time of 25.13.
