CEDARVILLE — Eaton’s boys and girls cross country teams are headed back to the regionals.
Both the boys and girls teams secured district runner-up spots at the Cedarville Division II District meet on Saturday, Oct. 22.
Both teams finished third overall in their respective races.
The top two teams in each race were crowned district champions with the third and fourth place team earning runner-up trophies.
“The athletes, coaches and parents are very excited about both teams capturing a District Runner-Up place and qualifying on to the regional championships this Saturday in Troy,” Eaton coach Randy McKinney said. “The weather looks to be much better than normal for the regional championship race so it should be very exciting.”
According to McKinney, the girls’ team, once again, managed to have a low team gap of 35 seconds between their first through fifth runners and 1:18 between the 1st through 7th runners.
The boys’ team had a 1:20 team gap between its first through fifth runners.
“Overall, we had some outstanding individual performances although the district course did run an average of about 25 seconds slow for the girls and around 12 seconds for the boys’ race,” McKinney said.
For the boys, Tanner Davis was 5th in 16 minutes, 42.3 seconds. Kolby Hamilton was 6th in 16:46.2. James Baker was 16thin 17:22.4, Jack Richardson was 32nd in 17:58, Bradley Gifford was 34th in 18:01.6, Wes Kitchin was 49th in 18:22.6 and Nick Laycox was 58th in 18:35.8.
For the girls, Lauren Guiley was 12th in 20:26.1, Keira Elliott was 18th in 20:40.9, Emily Haynes was 21st in 20:53.4, Kaili Hewitt was 23rd in 20:56.6, Cami McCloud was 26th in 21:00.2, Rylie Haynes was 35th in 21:36.0 and Addison Guiley was 37th in 21:44.2.
McKinney said both teams have a chance to qualify for the state meet.
“Both teams are in an excellent position going into the Regional Championships this weekend,” he said. “We have a lot of experience on this course with both teams which is monumental as we approach the races on Saturday. At this point it’s about focus, attitude, getting the right amount of rest and being ready to mentally and physically show up Saturday and complete the goals these athletes have been focusing on since the end of last season.”
The top four teams will qualify to the state Championships on Nov. 5.
In the Girls D-II race there will be 13 teams and 11 individuals for a total of 102 runners.
In the boys’ race there will be 14 teams and 11 individuals for a total of 109 runners.
“Every finish place is going to be major because the majority of the top 25 in each race are from the qualifying teams,” McKinney said.
The boys will race at 1 p.m. with the girls following at 1:45 p.m.
