Houston athletes run well at home cross country meet

Cross country runners from several area high schools, middle schools and even elementary schools competed Tuesday at the fifth annual Tiger Trail Invitational at Houston Municipal Golf Course.

In the high school girls race, HHS freshman Lyla Huffman blew away the small field of 18 runners, covering the diverse 5,000-meter course in a school-record time of 20:39.42 and finishing more than 2 minutes ahead of Mountain Grove sophomore Keena Roth, who came in second at 22:51.80.

Three more Lady Tigers also placed in the top-10, as senior Lilly Kincaid placed seventh, sophomore Jessyn Allen ran eighth and senior Natalie Clinton came in ninth. Sophomore Jesslyn Crawford completed the team score by placing 14^th.

Houston was the only squad to produce a 5-runner team score.

In the high school boys race, the host Tigers had three runners finish in the top-10 in the field of 37 runners. Senior Jack Sawyer led the way, placing sixth with a time of 19:40.62, while home-school junior Marcus Posant was seventh and sophomore Michael Perez came in eighth.

Rounding out Houston’s team score were senior Jackson Evetts in 13^th and sophomore Christopher Meier in 14^th.

Mountain Grove sophomore Skyler Oliphant won the race with a time of 18:40.85.

Mountain Grove topped the four teams that generated scores, while Houston was second, Salem was third and Cabool was fourth.

Houston athletes were dominant in the middle school boys and girls 3,200-meter races.

HMS eighth-graders Oliver Choate and Myles Copley each added another individual victory to their resumes, as Choate placed first in a field of 48 in the boys race with a time of 8:37.40 and Copley won in a field of 29 with a time of 9:15.49 (more than 2 minutes ahead of the second-place runner).

The HMS boys topped the standings among five teams with scores. Houston eighth-grader Charlie Benoist was the runner-up at 8:55.20, while eighth-grader Liam Stickel placed sixth, seventh-grader Rocky Gilbert came in seventh and seventh-grader Dominic Stice finished 19^th.

Houston seventh-grader Hayden Jones placed third in the girls race at 11:45.81, and seventh-grader Adrian Shotz came in ninth at 13:58.17.

The meet began with 3,200-meter races for fifth-graders.

Houston fifth-grader Kipp Copley came in second in the boys race with a time of 10:22.30, less than 4 seconds behind the winner, Mountain Grove fifth-grader Mighty Ellis (10:18.74). Houston fifth-grader Mary Hummel placed third in a field of 19 in the girls race at 12:21.28.

The meet featured a total of close to 200 runners.

“I thought our turnout was pretty good,” said HHS head coach and event organizer Justin Brown. “But we are always looking for ways to grow our meet and continue to get bigger every year. With the way we have the course set up, it makes it more spectator-friendly so parents and coaches can see their kids a lot more without having to run all over the place!”

The temperature was around 90 during the event.

“I really thought our kids did exceptionally well with how hot it was,” Brown said. This is the second meet of the year and they both have been a scorcher when the kids have run their races. I look for kids to continue to get faster as the year progresses and the temperature drops. We’re still early into the season so there is a lot of time for improvement across the board for our athletes.”

Next week, Houston runners will compete in meets Tuesday at Ava and Thursday at Plato.

Tiger Trail Invitational XC Meet

9-16-2025

Elementary Boys

Kipp Copley       2^nd      10:22

Beckett Richardson         8^th       11:34

Harrison Choate   21^st     15:19

21 Total Runners

Elementary Girls

Mary Hummel        3^rd       12:21

Julie Choate        8^th       14:17

Remi Williams       10^th     16:25

19 Total Runners

Middle School Boys        1^st Place Team

Oliver Choate         1^st       8:37

Charlie Benoist     2^nd      8:55

Liam Stickel           6^th       9:15

Rocky Gilbert         7^th       9:48

Dominic Stice        19^th     11:30

Fenton Choate      21^st     11:43

Brody Rector        24^th     12:17

Tucker Williams    30^th     12:35

48 Total Runners

Middle School Girls

Myles Copley        1^st       9:15

Hayden Jones        3^rd       11:45

Adrian Sholtz        9^th       13:58

29 Total Runners

Varsity Girls        1^st Place Team

Lyla Huffman        1^st       20:39

Lilly Kincaid        7^th       25:06

Jessyn Allen       8^th       25:27

Natalie Clinton      9^th       25:34

Jesslynn Crawford        14^th     31:15

18 Total Runners

Varsity Boys       2^nd Place Team

Jack Sawyer        6^th       19:40

Marcus Posant      7^th       20:47

Michael Perez        8^th       21:10

Jackson Evetts       13^th     21:51

Christopher Meier       14^th     21:59

Gage Smith          21^st     23:13

Johnathon Causey       22^nd    23:16

Ryan Painter        26^th     25:20

Thomas Kincaid    28^th     27:57

Shane Yonkers       30^th     28:40

Ryan Haslett        32^nd    29:48

37 Total Runners