Cross country runners from Houston High School and Houston Middle School continued their 2025 season Tuesday, competing at the annual Mountain Grove Open at Randel-Hinkle Municipal Golf Course in Mountain Grove.
Houston came away with three individual victories once again, as HHS freshman Lyla Huffman won the varsity girls race and HMS 8th-graders Oliver Choate and Myles Copley won the boys and girls middle school races. All three athletes are undefeated this season, with four wins in four races.
Huffman topped a field of 35 runners with a time of 20:17.79 on the 5,000-meter course, more than a minute-and-a-half faster than the second-place finisher, Gainesville sophomore Jessica Suit (21:52.59).
Suit led Gainesville to a team victory, as the Lady Bulldogs scored 32 points and Houston had 35.
HHS sophomore Jessyn Allen also placed in the top-10, coming in eighth at 23:47.44. The rest of the Lady Tigers’ team score came from senior Natalie Clinton in 13th, senior Lilly Kincaid in 16th and sophomore Jesslyn Crawford in 27th.
In the high school boys race, senior Jack Sawyer was Houston’s first finisher, placing 15th in a field of 73 with a time of 19:23.66. Other HHS runners making up the team score were junior Marcus Posant in 25th, sophomore Christopher Meier in 27th, sophomore Michael Perez in 34th and senior Jackson Evetts in 42nd.
Liberty senior Caleb Bates (a home-schooler) came in first at 17:06.57, while Ava senior Isaac Smith took second at 17:15.27.
Van Buren had the lowest team score among seven squads with scores, while Houston came in fifth.
Middle school and elementary school races were 2,414 meters long.
A trio of HMS 8th-graders took the first three spots in a field of 92 in the middle school boys race, as Choate won with a time of 8:41.14, Charlie Benoist was second at 8:52.99 and Liam Stickel came in third at 9:16.21. The Tigers topped the team standings, as 7th-grader Rocky Gilbert placed seventh and 7th-grader Dominic Stice finished 25th.
Copley once again finished far ahead of the rest of the field in the middle school girls race, posting a time of 9:22.02 while Liberty 6th-grader Kaylee Francis came in second in the field of 64 at 11:26.80. HMS 7th-grader Hayden Jones had another good outing, placing fourth at 11:31.25, while 7th-grader Adrian Sholtz came in 25th.
Gainesville scored 50 points to take the team win by the slimmest of margins, while Viola, Arkansas was second with 51 and Willow Springs was third with 53.
Two Houston 5th-graders placed in the top-10 in the elementary school boys race, as Kipp Copley finished third at 10:48.23 and Beckett Richardson came in 10th at 11:58.96. Mountain Grove 5th-grader Mighty Ellis won with a time of 10:16.77.
Another pair of Houston 5th-graders ran in the top-10 in the elementary school girls race, as Mary Hummel placed third at 12:19.41 and Julie Choate came in 10th at 13:59.33. Willow Springs 5th-grader Kenzley Lemon won with a time of 11:35.34.
“It was a very good day for our Tigers,” said head coach Justin Brown. “The elementary kids are looking stronger and the middle school boys had another dominating performance. Myles was strong leading the middle school girls and Hayden and Adrian all improved their times. The varsity girls had a hard-fought battle with Gainesville, with Lyla leading the way. Our varsity boys still have a lot of room for improvement with the second half of the season coming up, so hopefully we can get things turned around and heading in the right direction.”
Houston cross country athletes will run again Thursday, Oct. 2, at Fair Grove, and next Thursday (Oct. 9) at Licking.
The South Central Association conference championships meet is set for Monday, Oct. 13, at Willow Springs.
