Cross country starts season with success

The+varsity+boys%E2%80%99+cross+country+team+holds+up+their+1st+place+trophy+after+a+successful+meet+on+Sept.+2+at+Heritage+Church.+The+Panthers+ended+the+meet+with+the+top+runners+finishing+1-2.

Shelby Foster

The varsity boys’ cross country team holds up their 1st place trophy after a successful meet on Sept. 2 at Heritage Church. The Panthers ended the meet with the top runners finishing 1-2.

Dana Gould and Jenna Sanders

Picking up from a successful 2016 season where both boys and girls ran in the state meet, the Panthers finished the first meet of the 2017 season with the boys placing 1st and the girls placing 3rd overall. The cross country team raced on Sept. 2 at Heritage Church for their first home meet.

“I know our goals are to win state boys and girls, but we’ll see how that goes,” head coach Austin Enriquez said.

Shelby Foster
A member of the varsity girls’ cross country team runs at Starr’s Mill’s first home meet on Sept. 2 at Heritage Church. Though the Lady Panthers did not finish the race with any runners in the top ten, there is still time to reach last year’s successes.

Girls’ results

At the meet, the runners tested their abilities at home and attempted to reach the success of last year. No Lady Panther runner managed to finish in the top ten. However, top runner sophomore Megan Dobso improved her personal record by 10 seconds and finished 11th overall.

Sophomore Megan Dobso – 19:22, 11th place overall

Freshman Darby Olive – 20:24, 19th place overall

Junior Zemmie Steger – 20:43, 22nd place overall

For the rest of the times, click here.

“We went out really fast, and then we settled in, and then everyone just spread out,” Dobso said.

Boys’ results

The Panthers concluded the Sept. 2 race with two runners at the top. This provides a huge jumpstart to the season and a strong start toward besting last year’s success.

Junior Nick Nyman- 15:57, 1st place overall

Junior Harrison Fultz- 16:07, 2nd place overall

Junior Ty Duben- 17:20, 15th place overall

For the rest of the times, click here.

“It was a little bit harder leading the whole race instead of chasing somebody so that is different than how I usually run,” Nyman said.

The Panthers run next on Sept. 9 in Carrollton. For the times of the races, click here.