ROCKINGHAM — Participating in their second meet in as many days during their first week of competition, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ and girls’ cross country teams showed improvement Thursday.
Hosting a non-conference meet at Hinson Lake, the Raiders and Lady Raiders ran a 3-mile race against Anson, North Moore and Southwestern Randolph high schools.
Following last-place finishes the day before at Pinecrest High School, both teams moved up in the standings and several runners posted season-best or new personal record times.
The Lady Raiders paced the field and took first place with a score of 29 points, while the Raiders scored 66 points to place third out of the four qualifying teams.
Winning the boys’ race was North Moore (21 points), and the Lady Raiders cruised past second-place North Moore (51 points).
Lady Raiders earn first meet victory, new PRs set
In the girls’ race, Richmond had five of its runners finish in the top 10 spots, including three runners in the top five. As a team, four runners set new PRs.
Leapfrogging one another from the team’s first meet of the season, junior Emely Valencia and senior Melanie Garcia earned second and third place, respectively.
Valencia (24:56) and Garcia (25:59) were two of the four runners to set a new personal best time. Taking over 90 seconds off her time was Valencia, while Garcia shaved 18 seconds off her run at Pinecrest.
Sophomore Jazlyn Garcia and junior Janet Morales were the next two Lady Raiders to cross the finish line. Jazlyn Garcia was sixth overall (28:07) and Morales clocked in a 29:09, a new PR that was 13 seconds faster.
Rounding out the top 10 for Richmond was senior Jada Scott, who crossed the finish line with a mark of 30:03, also a new PR. She took four seconds off her time from the first meet the day before.
Helping offset other runners in the scoring were sophomore Karen Zamora (30:51), junior Madyson Cloninger (32:32) and sophomore Adryan Southall (32:50). The trio of runners finished in 12th, 15th and 16th place, respectively, out of 25 runners.
Two Raiders record new best times, team takes 3rd
Moving up one spot in the final standings from its first meet, the Raider cross country team had six runners in action Thursday.
Leading the way in his first meet of the season was freshman Hector Perez, who placed fifth overall out of 24 runners. His time of 22:11 was his first official high school time and made it a PR.
Senior Jake Richardson and sophomore Elliot Samuel weren’t far behind Perez, ending the race in 10th and 11th place, respectively. Richardson crossed the finish line in 24:29 and Samuel was on his heels at 24:37.
Collecting the final points for the team was sophomore Nolan Dawkins, the other Raider who recorded a new PR. Finishing 19th in the field, Dawkins’ time was 28:38, a full 64 seconds faster than his time at Pinecrest.
Seniors Elijah Shaw (30:26) and Luke Gilliam (30:48) placed 21st and 22nd in the race. Freshman Zion Barnes also ran, but no official time was provided for him.
The Raiders took third place thanks to a 23-point cushion over Anson (89 points).
Click here to view photos of Thursday’s home meet at Hinson Lake.
The Raiders and Lady Raiders will run one meet this week Wednesday at Overhills High School. Also running will be Hoke County High School. Races will start at 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
