The Pike County Cross Country team won the region championship, making it three years in a row that both the boys and girls have both won the region. The teams are coached by Ken Smith and Ashley O’Steen.
JV started the action with Mia McGurl, Morgan Wilson and Savannah McBrayer finishing fifth, sixth and seventh. The JV boys won, led by B.B. Lopez in second, Turner Whelen in third, Andrew Edwards in fourth, Cooper Hansen in sixth, John Barber in seventh and Xander Potter in ninth.
The Varsity girls took the course next and burned it up. They were the underdogs to Mary Persons coming into the race. Anna Chasteen led the way with a 19:56 which is currently the seventh best time in the state and a personal record for her. She is now a three-time Region champ. Senior Peyton Bussell provided a strong kick to hold off a Mary Persons runner. Cathryn Stuart, Laren Smith and Bailey Morris were running in a pack in about twelfth to fifteenth place at the two mile mark and all three ladies passed multiple runners in the final mile to finish seventh, ninth and tenth and the girls team upset Mary Persons by four points. Madison Wilson finished thirteenth and Addison Stuart fifteenth.
The boys team were favored to win and they held up their end of the bargain. They also brought their team average time to 18:00 flat. Aiden Potter earned another strong second place finish. Mary Persons’ Justin Watchel won the race and will be a favorite to win state also. The rest of the Pike team was running as a pack for the first mile or two. William Grey finished in fourth with his strongest race of the year. Jake Richardson was fifth, Dawson Moss was sixth and Luke Woerner was seventh, all within 20 seconds of one another. Not far behind were Riley Nuice in twelfth and Christian Fowler in thirteenth. Both the boys and girls team are currently ranked eighth in the state. The state meet is set for Friday in Carrollton with the race starting at 9 a.m.