On Tuesday, October 15, the Leesville cross country team wrapped up their junior varsity season.
They competed in the the Cap-8 conference meet where they raced against seven other teams from the area: Millbrook, Broughton, Enloe, Sanderson, Heritage, Wake Forest and Wakefield. Leesville competed in all three races: womens varsity, mens varsity and combined womens and mens junior varsity. Leesville earned third place out of the eight teams competing in all four categories.
The Leesville varsity boys lost out to Millbrook and Broughton. However, Lance Bullerwell and Carson Ellerby were top ten finishers with times of 16:26 and 16:29 for a 5k, respectively. They were also two of nine male runners that qualified to be national elites.
Varsity girls also lost to Millbrook and Broughton. Nevada Mareno with a time of 18:58, Taylor Hemming with a time of 19:38, and Sarah Bigelow with a time of 20:03 all finished in the top ten of their race. Mareno and Hemming both qualified to be national elites out of 5 female runners selected.
Even though no one from the junior varsity races could qualify for the national elite award, there were still top ten finishers from both squads. Lindsay Lehman was the only junior varsity girl to finish in the top ten with a time of 22:35. Sean Nicol and Nathan Gamble were top ten finishers in the boys race with times of 17:51 and 18:07, respectively. Nicol finished first place in the male junior varsity race.
This race marked the end of the season for the junior varsity runners. However, the varsity team continues to train this week and they will race in the Mid-East Regionals that will be held at WakeMed Soccer Park this saturday, October 26.
