Nevada XC has successful outing in Bolivar

The Nevada Middle School girls cross country team, is all smiles after securing second place at Tuesday’s Bolivar Invitational. Pictured front row, l-r: Bailey Ast, Grace Barnes, and Malynn Pippin. Second row, l-r: Lilly Hart, Brooklyn Kutina-Smith and Teresa Dawn. Third row, l-r: Ashlynd Taylor, Avery Morris and Olivia Creech. Back row, l-r: Christina Kane and Ashley Mather. Not pictured: Allie Rains.

Submitted photo

The Nevada Tiger and Lady Tiger cross country squads were south of town on Tuesday for the Bolivar Invitational held at Southwest Baptist University. It was an excellent overall showing for Nevada as the Lady Tigers placed fourth at the 18-team event, and the Tigers ninth. In addition, the Nevada Middle School boys and girls teams were also present, with the NMS girls collecting a runner-up finish, while the Tiger middle school boys placed 10th.

“This is one of, if not the toughest meet we will see until conference and districts,” said Nevada XC coach, Ryan Watts. “This was a (heavily attended) meet on a very difficult course. I am extremely pleased with how we ran. The majority of our runners dropped time from our last meet and, the majority of our runners were significantly faster today than they were at Bolivar this time last year — which is reassuring us that we are heading in the right direction.”

A trio of Lady Tiger varsity runners netted top 10 finishes. For Nevada, Calli Beshore placed runner-up in the 5K; Amara Pippin, ninth; and Patience Lockhart, 10th. Another big-time performance was achieved by NMS seventh-grader, Avery Morris, who zoomed to a fifth-place finish in the girls middle school competition. Lady Tiger eighth-grader Brooklyn-Kutina Smith, joined Morris in the top 10, with an eighth-place finish.

“We saw some of the fastest runners in the state and we were right there with them,” noted Watts, adding the varsity girls fourth-place finish against fierce competition was extremely impressive.

“And the middle school girls brought home a plaque with the second-place finish. This was very special and exciting to bring home a plaque from such a tough meet.”

NHS girls 5K results

• Calli Beshore, runner-up (medal winner); Amara Pippin, 9th (medal winner); Patience Lockhart 10th (medal winner); Haleigh Leisure, 37th; Heaven Farmer, 38th; and Zoe Farmer, 39th.

NHS boys 5K results

• Will Johnson, 23rd (medal winner); Luke Sudkamp, 29th; Devin McHugh, 38th; Trent Ellis, 47th; Ben Sudkamp, 54th; and Colson Fisher, 64th.

NMS girls results

• Avery Morris, 5th-place (medal winner); Brooklyn Kutina-Smith, 8th (medal winner); Ashland Taylor, 17th (medal winner); Lilly Hart, 18th (medal winner); Allie Rains, 20th (medal winner); Ashley Mather, 24th (medal winner); Grace Barnes, 29th; Bailey Ast ,31st; Malynn Pippin, 33rd; Christina Kane, 50th, Teresa Dawn, 70th; and Olivia Creech, 118th.

NMS boys results

• Mokey Dawn, 26th-place; Nate Taylor, 44th; Jamin Mosher, 45th; Sam Porter, 53rd; Tanner Klotz, 65th; Michael Tresse, 73rd; Eli Mosher, 83rd; and Ethan McGinnis, 140th.