At this rate, Jones County’s middle school cross country runners may be well served to open up a storefront. They keep collecting hardware for high finishes as individuals and as a team.
The latest exploit was last Wednesday’s Walker Bethune Invitational on Stratford Academy’s home course, where the boys claimed second and the girls finished third.
The latter of those two finishes came by way of consistent finishes with three Jones County runners in the race’s top 13. At the helm was Madison Marshall’s third-place finish of 10:08.59 as Raelyn Harris was 12th at 11:02.01 and Annabel Marchand was close behind in 13th at 11:08.56. Also closing strong in a competitive field were Taegan Pierce and Aubree Tam in 30th and 38th on times of 11:57.81 and 12:20.75.
The boys’ finish was led by Easton Belshan’s time of 9:18.66, good for ninth ahead of Colton Gordon in 16th with a time of 9:31.96. James Carden placed 16th on a run of 9:39.27 with Bentley Cook and Knox Watson timing at 21st and 31st on times of 9:55.33 and 10:12.86.
