JERSEY – El Dorado placed five runners in the top 10 as the Wildcats won the Moro Bay Invitational Saturday. The Wildcats won the cross country meet for the second year in a row.
“We knew going into it that Cedar Creek would be our biggest threat and the key to beating them would be to displace their 3, 4, and 5 runners as much as we could,” said El Dorado coach John Koonce.
Hudson McDiarmid led the Wildcats with a fifth place finish. Jadon Cunningham was sixth with Brooks Coan eighth, J.D. Halstead ninth and Jaland Upshaw 10th.Rounding out El Dorado's runners were Hayden McDiarmid (13th) and Eloy Rodriguez (16th).
“This is three weeks in a row that we had a different boy be our top finisher,” noted Koonce. “The first week it was J.D., last week it was Jadon, and this week it was Hudson. It is a lot of fun to see a different boy take it to another level each week. We have a group of boys that are very competitive with each other in practice and it shows on Saturdays. Hudson, Jadon, J.D. and Brooks really compete with each other all week long and you have Jaland, Hayden, Eloy, Carson, and Collin that aren't too far off from them. It takes that competitive nature in practice to improve.
Hudson McDiarmid had a time of 18:37 with Cunningham right behind at 18:42. Coan (18:48), Halstead (18:54) and Upshaw (19:01) rounded out the top 10 times.
“Hudson has really taken it to another level for his senior year, he had a very strong week of practice and it translated into a great race today.This was probably Brooks Coan most complete race of the year. He's had strong finishes the past two weeks, but he had a much better start this week.”
Carson Ricker (21:09), Collin Taylor (21:59), Hunter Meeks (22:11), Shane Ward (23:01), Ian Hernandez (24:16), Braden Griffin (25:16) and Alan Villegas (27:25) rounded out the Wildcats.
Parkers Chapel's varsity boys were led by Spencer Frisby (22:23), Thomas Hardy (23:43), Wyatt New (24:19) and Madison Dougan (24:40).
In varsity girls, Parkers Chapel's Ali Looney finished fifth overall with a time of 22:32. Jana Avery (23:46), Drue Thomas (27:15), Madison Sullivan (27:18) and Taylor Fortune (31:35) rounded out the Lady Trojans.
The Lady Wildcats were led by Melanie Miller, who was 16th. Alivia Zartuche was 20th with Laura Fairris 49th and Iankel Gonzalez 54th.
“Melanie Miller had her best race of the year,” said Koonce. “She is new to this so I expect her to continue to improve.”
El Dorado's junior girls finished third overall.
Alexa Dewey lead the way with an 11th place finish.
“This was, by far, her best race of the year,” said Koonce. “She is pretty new to this so I expect her to keep growing like this. She showed a lot of grit today.”
Addy Taylor placed 13th. Hope Walthall placed 30th. Presley Givens placed 39th and Haven Margis went 44th to round out the top five. Aubree Ezell (18:55), Katelyn Hayden (19:44). Sara May (20:25), Adrianna Arnold (21:17) and Mary Claire Parker (21:20) rounded out the team finishers.
PC's junior girls were led by Franzi Kahlert (17:29), Bella Frisby (18:34), Reaux McAuliffe (19:07), Kylie Martin (19:20) and Makenzie Morgan (19:11).
El Dorado's junior boys placed fifth as a team. The team was lead by Austin Richard, who placed 16th and Nic Harvey, who placed 22nd. Edwin Gonzalez was 30th. Lex Nash was 42nd and Matt Malin was 60th.