The Cross Country teams competed at the Miami County Invitational on Saturday. Both the boys and girls team earned Runner-up.

The boys overall team results were: 1st- Tipp City, 2nd -Covington, 3rd- Troy, 4th- Milton-Union, 5th- Troy Christian, 6th- Miami East, 7th-Piqua, 8th –Bethel, 9th- Newton.

On the boys side, All-County Runner Willy Hoffert led the way with a 3rd place finish, running an all time best of 16:37. Brandon Flora was 10th with a 17:08, followed by Dustin Fickert 11th 17:09, Lane White 14th 17:21, Zach Shilt 27th 17:55, Jake Sowers 34th 18:25, Dale Brant 45th 19:03, Kody Spade 46th 19:04, Isaac Canan 48th 19:17, Nick Tobias 68th 20:42, Harry Hicks 75th 21:06, Brian Hackett 76th 21:08, Bryant Hicks 85th 22:57, and Riley VanHise 91st 23:54.

What an awesome day for our whole program. The boys ran extremely hard and smart. Willy ran another great race, and his time moved him up another spot on the schools all time fastest runners list. Our two, three, and four runners all closed the gap today, which is great for our team. Brandon and Dustin each ran under 17:10, getting closer to their goal of getting into the 16’s. Lane also improved his time, and Zach was our 5th runner with an impressive race. Zach struggled the last couple of races with his breathing, so it was great to see him run such a good race today.

We said at the beginning of the year that this team could surprise some teams this season, and I believe today we did. We just finished in front of Troy and Milton-Union who are both outstanding teams. And, we didn’t finish too far behind Tipp City, who is rated number 7 in Div. II.

The girls overall team results were: 1st- Tipp City, 2nd –Covington, 3rd- Milton-Union, 4th- Troy, 5th- Troy Christian, 6th-Bethel.

The girls were led by All-County Runner Emily Fields who placed 5th running a 20:11, her personal best. Tara Snipes was 9th with a 20:37, Jessie Shilt was 10th with a 20:37, followed by Brittany Diltz 14th 21:10, Haley Adams 19th 21:16, Casey Yingst 24th 21:36, Kayla Fissel 35th 22:29, Julianna Simon 39th 22:36, Kayleigh Cecil 44th 23:16, Hannah Retz 50th 23:49, and Rachel Carder 51st 23:59.

The girls are doing such a tremendous job. Emily had the race of her life. She has worked so hard for the last four years. She wanted to get her name on “The Board” (Covington’s top 10 fastest runners board). She went from wanting to get her name on it, to being Covington’s 3rd fastest girl in school history. Good things come to those who wait, and in this case good things come to those who continue to focus and work extremely hard. Tara and Jessie both had great races. Jessie had her best time ever. Her time of 20:37 earned her the 9th fastest girl runner in Covington history. Brittany Diltz also had a fantastic race. She as well as Haley Adams had their personal best times. Casey also had a great day and continues to work hard. Kayla had her best time of the season, and so did Julianna. Kayleigh, Hannah and Rachel all ran great races as well. This is the only course during the season we run twice. It’s fun to see how their times compare and how they progress. Almost all the girls were faster. We will continue to work hard in practice and are looking forward to running at the Anna Invitational this Saturday.

The Junior High girls team was 3rd. Heidi Cron was 5th with a 13:27, followed by Carly Shell 12th 13:46, Kristy Romie 23rd 14:27, Jessie Crowell 24th 14:35, Cassidy Cain 38th 15:11, Julianna Yingst 45th 15:36, Teagan Casey 75th 19:08, and Meghan Parker 80th 20:56.

The Junior High boys team was 5th overall. Matt Carder was 4th running an 11:15, followed by Alex Schilling 13th 12:20, Nate Dunn 42nd 14:18, Steven Shane 43rd 14:21, Tyler Richards 61st 17:04, and Jese Shell 66th 23:30.