ROCKINGHAM — Continuing The Richmond Observer sports department’s review of the 2025-26 school year, the next program to be featured is Richmond’s cross country team.
The boys’ and girls’ cross country teams also participated in the Mid-South Conference for the first time this past fall.
While running at a conference meet at Overhills High School in October, the Raiders and Lady Raiders recorded their best finishes of the season as a one-two combo.
The Lady Raiders won the meet with 15 points, while the Raiders placed second with 46 points.
Sophomore Jazlyn Gracia set a new personal record time and placed fourth overall, and freshman Axel Nunez was the fastest Raider in fifth place.
Below is the original article from Oct. 18, 2025:
SPRING LAKE — The Richmond Senior High School cross country teams ran in their third meet this season Wednesday at Overhills High School.
What was supposed to be a three-team Mid-South Conference meet, ended up just being Richmond and Overhills when Hoke County High School didn’t participate.
That worked to the benefit of the Lady Raiders, who won their second straight meet. Racing against just Overhills, the Lady Raiders finished with 15 points and the Lady Jaguars didn’t have enough runners to qualify for the team score.
The Raiders ended the race with 46 points and in second place behind the Jaguars who recorded a first-place total of 16 points. Both races were 3-milers on Overhills’ campus.
Garcia sets new PR in team win
Taking advantage of Overhills’ low numbers, the Lady Raiders remained atop the timesheet in their MSC race.
Only one runner secured a new season-best or personal record time, which was sophomore Jazlyn Garcia. Finishing fourth overall in a field of 12 runners, Garcia crossed the finish line in 26:04.20, almost a full 40 seconds faster than her time in the first meet to set a new PR.
Placing fifth was junior Emely Valencia (26:21.00), followed by senior Melanie Garcia (28:17.20) in seventh, sophomore Adryan Southall in eighth (31:14.60) and junior Janet Morales (31:17.80) in ninth place to round out Richmond’s scorers.
Also competing in the meet were sophomore Karen Zamora (31:18.80), senior Jada Scott (31:53.50) and junior Madisyn Cloninger (32:06.80).
Newcomer Nunez paces Raiders
Making his first appearance this season, freshman Axel Nunez was the leader for the Raiders during Wednesday’s meet. One of 10 runners on the trail for Richmond, Nunez took fifth overall in the field of 25 competitors with a time of 22:26.30.
Two other Raiders ended the race inside the top 10 runners, starting with freshman Hector Perez, whose time of 23:50.10 put him in eighth place. Sophomore Elliot Samuel was close on his heels in 10th place, crossing the finish line with a time of 24:11.10.
The final two runners to qualify for points were senior Jake Richardson and freshman Angel Vega. Richardson was 12th overall (24:57.40), followed by Vega’s time of 26:20.50 in 16th place. Vega, who didn’t run in the last meet, set a new PR that was nearly two minutes faster.
Placing 20th through 23rd, respectively, were sophomore Jaron Gainey (28:43.60, new PR), senior Elijah Shaw (29:50.30), sophomore Nolan Dawkins (30:34.10) and senior Luke Gilliam (32:30.40).
Rounding out the field was freshman Zion Barnes, who clocked in with a final time of 41:32.20.
Richmond’s cross country teams will return to action next Wednesday for a conference home meet at Hinson Lake. The Raiders and Lady Raiders will host Jack Britt and Hoke County high schools starting at 4 p.m.
