Taking part in their largest race to date, the Cougar cross country teams got the chance to run on the site of this year’s regional meet as they took part in the Gatorland Run Saturday at Bowling Green’s Phil Moore Park.

The varsity boys placed three runners in the top 50 in earning eighth place out of the 17 teams entered.

The varsity girls suffered a blow last week when it was learned freshman Jordan Decker may be lost for the rest of the season. Decker had been running with considerable pain in her hip and had been forced to withdraw in last week’s Wildcat Invitational.

It has been determined a muscle has pulled part of the bone away from her hip and the constant running is keeping it from healing. She will have to give it several weeks to heal and she has yet to make the decision whether she will try to run again this season.

With Decker out and all the middle school girls running in the middle school race, the Lady Cougars finished 17th of the 18 teams entered.

The middle school girls put two runners in the top 50 as they earned a ninth-place finish of the 12 teams entered. The middle school boys did a little better, putting four runners in the top 50 and grabbing seventh place among the 13 teams entered.

The JV men also put four runners in the top 50 to grab fifth place of the 10 teams entered. There were no Grayson County runners in the JV girls race.

Grayson County also did not have teams in the elementary races, though the girls placed two runners in the top 30 of the 2K race. Third-grader Grace Gorby finished 12th of the 78 runners with a time of 8:44.4. Fifth-grader Jodi Decker finished 28th with a time of 9:27.2. The other Grayson County runner, second-grader Kaitlyn Armagost finished 62nd in 11:15.3.

First-grader Jordan Burden was 57th in the boys elementary 2K with a time of 9:04.1, while third-grader Aaron Burden was 74th in 9:44.7.

The varsity races featured a field of some of the top runners from the region and the state. Thirteen runners finished with times below 17 minutes for the 5K race, including Greenwood’s Ryan Eaton, who was first with the outstanding time of 15:51.3.

Grayson County’s Brady Clemons was the first Cougar across the line, finishing 18th in 17:05.7, his best time of the year so far.

Bryant Clemons finished 37th, while Andrew Wright came in 40th. Clemons’ time was 18:22.0, while Wright ran 18:23.3. Zach Berry and Clay Cannon were the final runners earning points for the Cougars. Berry finished 57th in 18:41.6, while Cannon was 68th in 18:53.4

Tyler Deacon finished 78th in 19:16.8 and Tylor Upton was 113th in 21:09.8. There were 141 runners in this race.

Kylee Gorby earned a top-10 finish for the Lady Cougars, finishing 10th in 21:18.0. Hannah McKenna was the next Lady Cougar across the line, finishing 101st in 26:44.8. Jamilyn Hall was 106th in 26:57.8, Savannah Carver was 115th in 28:24.2 and Claire Crawford was the final points-earner, finishing 120th in 28:52.8. Katelyn Dallas just missed the points, finishing in the 122nd spot in 29:05.3. There were 126 runners in the race.

Sixth-grader Haley Brooks continued to impress her coaches as she was the first Lady Cougar across the finish line of the girls’ middle school race. She finished 33rd overall in the 3K race with a time of 14:08.0. Eighth-grader Sydni Chaffins was not far behind, coming in 33rd in 14:23.6.

Others earning points included Kaitlyn Henning, 57th in 15:04.8, Sarah Pierce, 63rd in 15:20.0, and Christina Cubbage, 88th in 16:35.4. There were 129 runners in this race.

For the middle school boys, Nathan Bratcher continued his fine outings, coming in 20th of 132 runners with a time of 12:14.7. Sheldon Jones, Spencer Byrd and Corbin Harris all had top-50 finishes. Jones was 38th in 12:46.7, Byrd was 42nd in 12:52.4 and Harris was 48th in 13:02.3. Jacob Hart was the final Cougar earning points, finishing 86th in 14:23.3.

Other Cougar runners included Alex Burden, 89th in 14:37.4, Zachary Warren, 124th in 17:35.9 and Jamison Brashars, 129th in 19:04.5.

After dropping out of last week’s race with an illness, freshman Carter Cannon worked to get back in form by running in the JV race. He came in with a 14th-place finish out of 105 runners. His time was 19:21.9. Jaime Saltsman was 25th in 19:57.0, Kalib Lindsey was 44th in 21:07.5 and Austin Curtis was 47th in 21:11.1.

Brooks Gorby was the final Cougar earning points, just missing a top-50 finish coming in 51st. His time was 21:31.0.

Wes Trail, a standout on this year’s soccer team, ran for the first time this season with the cross country squad, finishing 55th with a time of 21:49.9. Alex Baxter was 57th in 21:54.3, Christian Everton was 59th in 21:57.1, and Spencer Jones was 86th in 24:20.7.

The Cougar cross country teams will be at Elizabethtown’s Freeman Lake Park this coming Saturday to take part in the John Hardin Bulldog Invitational. The elementary girls’ race will kick things off beginning at 8 a.m. central time. The varsity races are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.