RUSTON, La. — Ruston High Cross Country Coach Dustin Cochran can’t be more pleased after how this past weekend went.
Hosting the first home meet in five years, both squads put up tremendous showings, with the boys finishing first overall and the girls taking second place after trailing the winner by one point in the 2024 Ruston Invitational held at Lincoln Parish Park.
“We were really thrilled to host a home meet again,” Cochran said. “It’s something we haven’t done since 2019. I’m incredibly thankful we got the opportunity to host. We had almost 1800 kids compete this weekend. As you can imagine, they bring a lot of fans with them, and that is a lot of people to organize in one area. We have such a strong support system with Ruston High XC. The parents and some of our alumni made this meet go, and I need to shout them out before anything else.
“Team wise, I’m really impressed with a number of our kids. They spent the entirety of Friday afternoon in the sun working the elementary meet and if they were anything like me, the sun had them a little worn out on Saturday morning. We still responded with some great performances, and we had a great meet.”
The boys finished with 48 points total (4+5+6+16+17) with junior Taylor Huddleston leading the ‘Cat Pack and finishing fourth overall with a time of 16 minutes, 15.58 seconds. Juniors Al-Amin Wilson and Joshua Daulton were right behind him with fifth and sixth place finishes and times of 16:17.29 and 16:30.41, respectively.
Junior Luke Braswell took 16th at 17:19.23 while sophomore Wyatt Hancock took 17th at 17:19.89.
“On the boys side Ben Boudreaux (who was our top runner week 1) had to drop out at Mile 1 with a little injury, and our boys had to step up in his absence,” Cochran said. “Huddleston and Hancock got out and took a chance for us on Saturday. Neither of these guys were in our varsity conversation a year ago, and here they turned in great performances that helped us get a team win.”
The Ruston JV boys also took first place with 16 points total with Dawson Baker leading the pack.
“Dawson Baker led the way for the JV guys in the 2.2 mile race, and did so in incredible fashion,” Cochran said. “He’s had a very good year so far running PRs each meet out and at our time trial. A lot of new faces, including freshman Billy Rufleth and Gabriel Mhire really stepped up and ran incredibly well. These two guys are going to be really good in time. I have a six-month old puppy who is growing out of control, and they’re two people who I see matching the growth rate for sure.”
On the girls side, freshman phenom Eden Dawsey won first place overall with a time of 18:59.54.
“Dawsey stamped herself as an all time Bearcat in her second race ever,” Cochran said. “She’s the fastest freshman I’ve ever coached in XC, and we’re 3 weeks into the season. With girls like Lily Garrett coming through here recently, that says a lot.”
Following Dawsey were junior Hallie Hebert in third (19:26.08) and senior Sydney Owens in sixth (20:24.58). Sophomore Aydan Murry took 26th at 22:24.46 while sophomore Diana Santoas finished 54th at 24:29.48.
“I want to also talk about Sydney Owens,” Cochran said. “She came to me Friday and said I’m feeling bad. My throat feels like it’s closing up and it’s hard to breathe. Every time I saw her Friday afternoon she looked sweaty and clammy. She showed up Saturday and delivered the type of gutsy performance she’s come to be known for around here. She passed two girls in the last half mile to give us some much needed team points. We have really talented girls up front, but every team needs a Sydney to really bring it together. You don’t replace that toughness.”
Ruston is slated to run at the “ESA Ain’t No Shade in Cade” in Cade, La., on Saturday, Sept. 28.
