By Reece Pitlik and Simon Crocker

Reid Smock broke the cross country finish line for the first time in his high school career at Benton Sept 12, with a time of 16:40, an average mile time of 5:22.  His time was a personal record for him, and Smock commented that he was having the time of his life.  “This win makes me want to go strong the rest of the season, and I hope my teammates feel the same,” he said.

Four MVLXC boys runners placed in the top four at the meet helping the team take the title over second place team finisher Vinton Shellsburg.  Jack Young was runner up with a time of 16:53, followed by Chase McLaughlin and Thatcher Krob who both finished with times under 17:30.

The MVLXC girls also competed at Benton. The top place winners for the girls were Maren Jeppson, Hayley Corkin, and Faith Anton. Jeppson took fourth place running a 20:11. Corkin placed eleventh clocking a time of 21:18 with  Anton finishing 10 seconds behind her to place fourteenth.

The JV MVLXC teams ran in the meet as well. JV Boys placed first in their division by claiming the top five spots and six of the top seven overall. Liam Conroy placed first with a time of 17:52. The girls team placed third of the seven teams with Clara Conroy leading the way by placing eleventh with a time of 23:56.

Chris Grice said, “The team did a great job on the Varsity and Junior Varsity levels.” He also thought it was really promising to see the JV boys get a perfect team score of 15,  placing all five runners in the top five.

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