Tigers run at SW Baptist Invite

The Nevada High School boys and girls cross country teams headed down south Tuesday for the Southwest Baptist (Bolivar High School) Cross Country Invitational. NHS cross country coach Ryan Watts said the competition was fierce.

The meet featured an estimated 800 runners, as the NHS varsity girls took home a third-place trophy. In addition, Nevada netted 10 individual medals.

"We were looking for a tough meet to push us to our limits, and that's what we found here," Watts said. "This is the most populated, toughest course, with the hardest competition we have seen yet, and likely will see outside of the Chile Pepper Race at the University of Arkansas (largest Cross Country Event in the United States) and the Missouri state cross country championships."

Watts said he hopes the stiff competition his team faced in Bolivar will pay future dividends.

"We always want to put ourselves up against the best competition we can find," he said, "to see as much improvement as possible, and really challenge our runners. The Southwest Baptist Invite provided that for us."

NHS top finishes include: Calli Beshore's sixth-place finish in the varsity girls 5-kilometer run; and Patience Lockhart's 15th place finish in the same event.

"We ran (right at) our best times on a very challenging course," he said, "so that was great to see. And we had some kids really step up and challenge in races that had state medalists in them. The race was intimidating, but we still ran really strong and represented well."

NHS results

Varsity girls: Calli Beshore, sixth-place; Patience Lockhart, 15th; Virginia Haverstic, 21st; Heaven Farmer 34th; and Amara Pippin, 37th. Varsity boys: Luke Sudkamp, 46th and Noah Lanear, 59th. Junior varsity boys: Cayden Sanderson, 26th; Charles Morton, 28th; Clay Landoll, 32nd; Ben Sudkamp, 35th; and Colson Fisher, 36th. Junior varsity girls: Courtney Leeker, 14th; Hailee Richter, 17th; Amanda Blystone, 19th; and Taityn Charles, 21st. Middle school girls: Ashlynd Taylor, 21st; Grace Barnes, 49th; and Ashley Mather, 54th.