In the second meet of the 2024 season, both the Houston High School boys and girls cross country teams took third place at the Steelville Invitational on Thursday (Sept. 19).
The Lady Tigers were one of 7 teams to generate 5-runner scores in the varsity girls race.
Senior Kristen Ely paced Houston by finishing second in a field of 73 runners with a time of 22:55.50 on the 5,000-meter course. Junior Lilly Kincaid was next across the line for the Lady Tigers, placing 12th at 24:50.60, while senior Allie Benoist was right behind in 13th at 25:00.50. The rest of the team score came from freshman Jessyn Allen in 23rd and junior Natalie Clinton in 32nd.
Eight teams produced scores in the varsity boys race.
Junior Jack Sawyer led the Tigers by placing ninth in a field of 76 with a time of 18:31.40. Junior Warren Hinkle was next for Houston in 17th at 19:39.30, while junior Jackson Evetts, freshman Christopher Meier and senior Riley Talbott finished bunched in 25th, 26th and 27th place, respectively.
In middle school racing, Houston’s girls didn’t have a team score, but 8th-grader Lyla Huffman won again, topping a field of 114 runners with a time of 9:30.30 on the 2,500-meter course. The runner-up in the race, Kingston 7th-grader Haven Boyer, finished with the exact same time officially, as Huffman edged her in a photo finish.
The HMS boys placed fourth out of 19 teams with scores.
The top-3 Tigers to finish were a trio of 7th-graders grouped in the top-15, as Oliver Choate came in 11th with a time of 10:07.50, Charlie Benoist placed 12th at 10:11.40 and Liam Stickel ran 14th at 10:13.50. Rounding out the Tigers’ team score were 6th-graders Rocky Gilbert in 65th and Easton Hinkle in 71st.
Houston athletes are scheduled to run again Thursday, Sept. 26, at Plato and Tuesday, Oct. 1, at Mountain Grove.