Sophomore Bret Crawford (left) and junior Sheldon Jones earned medals for their top-10 finishes at last Saturday's Central Hardin Fairgrounds Frenzy race.

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Chaley Trail battled Louisville Butler's Hannah Jacobs at the end of the girls' varsity race. Trail finished sixth overall to earn a medal.

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L-R: Bret Crawford, Sheldon Jones and Clay Priddy were running together more than halfway through the race. The Cougars put all five scoring runners in the top 30 to finish 3rd in the 14-team race.

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Sophomore Maggie Lush was strong at the finish as she came in 79th of 115 runners in the varsity 5K race.

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Sophomore Bradley Stone (left) was able to pass senior teammate Justin Gallagher (right) in the last 100 meters to get up for the final scoring position for the Cougars.

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Sophomore Corbin Harris was the fourth Cougar across the line, finishing 26th overall.

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Don Brown

Staff writer

The Cougar cross country team continued to have excellent showings in the early season as they took third at the Central Hardin Fairgrounds Frenzy last Saturday at the Hardin County Fairgrounds.

This will be the course the Cougars will have to negotiate when they compete at this year’s regional meet. Placing three runners in the topp 15, the Cougars scored 80 points, just five behind the host team, Central Hardin, in second with 75 points. Meade County put five runners inside the top 11 to take first place with 31 points.

Sophomore Bret Crawford and junior Sheldon Jones earned medals with top-10 finishes. Crawford was eighth overall with a time of 17:14.36. Jones was just behind, finishing 10th in a time of 17:19.90.

Junior Clay Priddy was not far behind those two, finishing 13th with a time of 17:32.10. The other two runners earning points for the Cougars were sophomore Corbin Harris, 26th in 18:08.00, and sophomore Bradley Stone, 28th in 18:20.03. It was a remarkable finish for Stone, given that most of his time is spent with the Cougar soccer team.

Finishing out of the points were senior Justin Gallagher, 31st in 18:21.82, junior Jacob Hart, 78th in 20:12.85, junior Blake Meredith, 84th in 21:10.73, and sophomore Taylor Reyes, 89th in 21:41.87.

With 14 teams and 118 runners in this 5K race, Meade County’s Will Strickland finished first in 16:40.69.

The Lady Cougars sent three runners out in the girls’ race. Junior Chaley Trail earned a medal by finishing sixth of 115 runners with a time of 20:24.23. Sophomore Maggie Lush finished 79th in 25:47.76, and sophomore Mackenzie Arndell was 107th in 30:156.21.

With 14 teams and 115 runners in the race, Louisville Butler finished first with 32 points. North Hardin was second with 101 and John Hardin was third with 114. Butler’s Rose Jolly was the individual winner with a time of 19:48.54.

The boys’ middle school team also had a fine showing this day, finishing seventh of the 11 teams present with 194 points in the 3K race. North Oldham was first with 31 points, while Meade County was second with 59, and South Warren was third with 80. There were 117 runners in the race.

Seventh-grader Jarrett Crawford was the first Cougar across the line, finishing 14th with a time of 11:55.55. Seth Elmore finished 40th with a time of 13:00.69, Noah Saltsman was 64th in 13:46.03, Cameron Roberson was 85th in 14:50.06, and Nate Saltsman was 98th in 15:34.56

North Oldham’s Matthew Morris finished first with a time of 10:58.56.

The middle school girls finished fifth of nine teams with 137 points. The Northeast YMCA team finished in first with an excellent score of 19 points, followed by North Oldham in second with 36 points, and Meade County in third with 109. Northeast’s Catherine Sullivan finished first with a time of 11:22.45.

Sixth-grader Kaylee Masden was the first Lady Cougar across the line, finishing 18th of the 108 runners in 13:39.53. Teresa Graas finished 31st in 14:04.86, Julia Priddy was 33rd in 14:14.61, Myriam Hanover was 36th in 14:23.03, and Emery Crume was 42nd in 14:38.65.

Running out of the points were Heather Priddy, 59th in 15:57.36, Olivia Lucas, 63rd in 16:05.95, Alexis Henning, 105th in 22:36.15, and Tilley Darst, 107th in 25:38.44.

In the elementary school boys’ race, the Cougars finished third of six teams and 104 runners. Northeast YMCA’s Jacob Sutherland won with a time of 11:58.35 in the 3K race.

Third-grader Timothy Hanover was the first Cougar across the line, finishing 18th in 13:32.25. Eli Helm was not far behind as he finished 19th in 13:39.14. Lucas Gallagher was 22nd in 13:53.78, Brady Whobrey was 29th in 14:26.75, and Clay Stanton was 31st in 14:36.42.

Finishing out of the points were Jackson Crume, 48th in 15:31.62, and Luke Stanton, 51st in 15:44.48.

Leitchfield Christian Academy had three runners in this race as well, with Jacob Smith finishing just behind Luke Stanton in 15:44.96. LCA’s Maxton Cumming was 81st in 18:40.17, and Gabe Nunally was 91st in 20:39.19.

There were 85 runners in the girls elementary 3K race. Grayson County’s Sydney Maze was the first across the line for the Lady Cougars, finishing 32nd in 16:01.63. Hannah Priddy was 58th in 17:07.48, and Amyrra Kitchen was 63rd in 17:47.50.

LCA had four runners in this race. Sadie Boggs was 38th with a time of 16:16.97, Myra Duvall was 46th in 16:28.40, Grace Bernhard was 60th in 17:18.55, and Annie Boggs was 67th in 18:08.74.