ROCKINGHAM — For the second time in as many meets this season, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ and girls’ cross country teams competed on their home course.
Wednesday marked the penultimate meet of the regular season, and was also senior day for the program’s five seniors — Melanie Garcia, Luke Gilliam, Jake Richardson, Jada Scott and Elijah Shaw.
Afterward, Richmond hosted Mid-South Conference opponents Hoke County and Jack Britt high schools for a three-mile race.
Both of Richmond’s squads finished third on the day. The Lady Raiders recorded a score of 58 points, just behind second-place Hoke County (55 points). Winning the girls’ race was Jack Britt (16 points).
The Raiders tallied 85 points against two tough opponents. Jack Britt also won the boys’ race with a score of 21 points, followed by the Bucks’ 37 points.
All Lady Raiders set new PRs
The Lady Raiders ran eight total runners Wednesday, and for the first time this season, each runner recorded a new personal record time.
Pacing the team in seventh and eighth place overall were junior Emely Valencia ( 23:55.29) and freshman Jazlyn Garcia ( 24:01.63). Valencia took 61 seconds off her previous PR and Garcia ran 47 seconds faster.
Melanie Garcia crossed the finish line of her senior day race with a time of 25:04.91, putting her in 10th place. She beat her previous PR by 55 seconds.
The final two Lady Raiders who ran for points were sophomore Adryan Southall ( 27:35.30) and junior Janet Morales ( 27:38.96). Placing 16th and 17th overall, they both took off more than 90 seconds from their previous PRs.
Junior Madisyn Cloninger (27:39.80) was 17th in the field, and she broke her previous best time by 1:50. It was also her fastest time this season.
Scott (27:45.36) and sophomore Karen Zamora (28:22.44) brought up the back of the Lady Raiders’ field. Taking 2:18 off her PR was Scott, while Zamora improved by 82 seconds.
Gilliam records new PR during senior day
Also running eight runners, the Raiders saw three of them record new PRs during Wednesday’s home meet.
Those runners were Gilliam (28:36.25) and sophomores Nolan Dawkins ( 27:16.31) and Jaron Gainey (24:35.25). Gilliam, a four-year runner, improved his PR by 43 seconds.
Dawkins and Gainey shaved 1:22 and 2:28 off their previous best times, respectively. The two sophomores also combined for 36 points.
Leading the Raiders was Richardson, who was 23rd overall and 15th amongst the qualified runners collecting points. He ran a final time of 23:16.31, his third fastest time this season.
Finishing between Richardson and Gainey was sophomore Elliot Samuel, who took 26th place and added 16 points. He recorded a time of 24:33.48.
The Raiders’ fifth runner competing for team points was freshman Angel Vega, who clocked in at 26:35.80 for 18 points.
Also running during the meet were Shaw (28:34.46) and freshman Zion Barnes (36:41.50).
Richmond’s cross country teams will run in their regular-season finale next Thursday at Pinecrest High School. Also competing will be Overhills High School.
The first race will start at 4 p.m., followed by the second race at 4:30 p.m.
