HHS cross country runners have big day at Clever meet

At the annual Clever Invitational cross country meet last Thursday at Clever, nine Houston High School athletes finished a 3.1-mile course faster than they ever had before.

Taking advantage of a fast course and favorable racing conditions, seven Tigers and two Lady Tigers set new personal records in the competition.

Houston’s boys took 9th in the team standings out of 16 squads.

Junior Jake Allen paced the Tigers, finishing 33rd in a field of 152 runners with a time of 18:42.17. Freshman teammate Warren Hinkle was right behind in 34^th at 18:43.39, while junior Aiden Kelly also placed in the top-50, finishing 45^th at 19:08.43. Rounding out the Tigers’ team score were freshman Jack Sawyer in 60th at 19:30.81 and sophomore Riley Talbott in 62^nd at 19:44.49.

Also running for Houston were sophomore Conner McKinney, who came in 68^th at 19:44.49, junior Sheldon Starr, who ran 134th at 24:13.10, and freshman Shane Yonkers, who finished 145^th at 25:41.17.

The times posted by Allen, Hinkle, Kelly, Sawyer, Talbott, McKinney and Starr were all personal records.

Stockton topped the boys team standings, led by senior Brandon Postlewait, who won the race by blistering the course with a time of 16:22.47 (more than a half-minute ahead of the runner-up).

On the girls side, Houston placed 8th out of 12 teams.

Sophomore Kristen Ely again led the Lady Tigers, finishing 28^th in a field of 97 with a time of 22:40.98. Next across the line for Houston was sophomore Summer Bittle in 37^th at 23:08.81, followed by freshman Natalie Clinton in 46^th at 23:47.72, sophomore Allie Benoist in 62^nd at 25:20.04 and junior Miah Bressie in 69^th at 25:56.33.

Clinton and Bressie posted new personal records.

Senior Lily Hunsucker of Spokane won the race with a time of 20:06.67, while host Clever topped the team standings.

In middle school competition, Houston 6^th-grader Lyla Huffman had another fine outing, finishing 6^th in a field of 97 runners in the girls race with a time of 12:07.88 on the 2,400-meter course. Houston had two 7^th-graders in the boys race, with Christopher Meier placing 59^th in a field of 99 with a time of 13:08.46 and Thomas Kincaid coming in 79^th at 14:35.46.

Houston’s cross country athletes run again Tuesday at the annual Ava Invitational and will host the second annual Tiger Trail Invitational on Tuesday of next week (Oct. 25) at Houston Municipal Golf Course.