The Stallion boys were ranked 9th going in and only 7 teams advance so they knew everyone would have to have a great race to get out. In the end The Stallion boys snagged the 7th and final spot! The pieces fell into place as Columbia who was ranked highly had the top 2 runners in the race but failed to qualify as a team.
The Stallions were lead by Jr. Elijah Gregory who placed 3rd overall and medaled in a time of 16:43 out of 116 runners! Soph Zerek Koch also ran a solid race for the Stallions finishing 25th (17:48). #3 and #4 runners Sr. Yilian Lu and Soph. Isaiah Lyons really fought hard as well finishing 33rd (18:11) and 38th (18:19). Soph. Tommy Taylor was as solid #5 as the Stallions could have asked for fighting for spots finishing 77th (20:11). Had Taylor faltered in the #5 spot The Stallions would have still advanced as #6 runner Soph. Christian Nollman wasn’t far behind in 83rd (21:01).
Freshman Liagel Lyons also ran well finishing 109th(23:10).
Coach Tim Koch told WJBD/WSIQ Sports “we had a goal from this summer when we started training for this young group to hear our school name called as one of the advancing teams out of the regional. It feels so good to see these boys accomplish this after seeing how strong of a regional we were placed in and finishing 9th at the Regional at Benton last season.”
Joining the Boys as individuals next Saturday at the Benton Sectional will be 2 girls who have been their leaders all season and continue to shine, Jr. Sarah Mckowen and Soph. Rylee Brammeier. Mckowen placed 9th (20:03) overall out of 100 girls. She was the 2nd individual runner to qualify not on a qualifying team. Not far behind her was teammate Soph. Rylee Brammeier finishing 12th (20:33) overall and claiming the 3rd individual spot not on a team advancing.
Koch added, “it was a great day for our team and program, our core runners are young still and to see them pull this off this morning makes me so proud! In my opinion and also many other coaches opinion we had the toughest regional in the south.”
Submitted Photo
Submitted Photo
Submitted Photo
