CAMERON – A familiar yet unfamiliar course marked the first meet of the season for the Richmond Senior High School boys and girls cross country teams on Tuesday.
The Raiders and Lady Raiders competed against two other teams from the Sandhills Athletic Conference and played at host club Union Pines High School.
Runners from Lee County High School were also in attendance, running the 3.2-mile race on a newly designed course that featured glimpses of the previous course.
All three teams competed in the boys race and the Raiders finished second overall with 54 points. The host Vikings won the competition (15 points), while Lee County finished third (69 points).
In their race with only two teams, the Lady Raiders finished second with 45 points. Lee County had no team and Union Pines won with 18 points.
Each team could compete with up to seven runners, with the five best times being counted towards the ranking.
“We did really well,” said co-head coach Morgan Tedder. “They changed the course at Union Pines this year and it was a little confusing for all the runners. But our runners stuck with it and put up some really good times.”
“The first race is always very nerve-wracking, but I think we handled it well,” she continued. “This is a great starting point for us and gives us the chance to see how we can continue to improve.”
Raiders newcomers set the pace
All seven Richmond boys competed on Tuesday, led by experienced freshman runner James Coicou. Coicou finished seventh overall, posting a time of 20:30, which earned him seven points.
Junior DJ Gainey, a freshman returning to the sport for the first time since his freshman season, was hot on Coicou’s heels, finishing in eighth place and setting a new personal record of 20:43, exactly two minutes faster than his previous best race time.
The next two Raiders runners to cross the finish line were freshman Victor Nguyen (21:32, 11th place) and junior Jake Richardson (22:45, 13th place). Their points were added by freshman Elliot Samules, who finished 15th overall with a time of 25:38.
Richmond’s other two participants were junior Luke Gilliam (29:19) and senior Jaxon Chavis (37:32).
Mendez 3rd overall in the girls’ race
Mendez, who has been the Lady Raiders’ point leader since her freshman season, started her final season the same way.
With a time of 22:05, Mendez placed third in a field of 28 runners, scoring three points for the Lady Raiders and finishing 95 seconds behind the leader.
Seniors Samantha Barnes and Mascha Theijs posted times for ninth and 10th place, respectively. Barnes clocked a time of 25:19 and Theijs, an exchange student from Germany, ran 26:17 in her debut.
Senior class captain Alivia Webb was next to earn points for the Lady Raiders, finishing her final first race in 28:11. Sophomore Dayana Franco was Richmond’s last runner to earn points, with a time of 29:23. Webb and Franco finished 11th and 12th, respectively.
Junior Jada Scott ran the race in her first high school race in 30:53 and sophomore Madyson Cloninger rounded out the team with a time of 34:55.
Richmond’s cross country teams will compete in the first of their two meets at Hinson Lake on Tuesday. The boys race begins at 5 p.m., followed by the girls race at 5:30 p.m.
