Huffman runs Lady Tigers’ first-ever sub-20 time at Licking XC meet

As she continues to improve in leaps and bounds during her inaugural season of high school cross country racing, Houston freshman Lyla Huffman became the first girl in school history to post a time under 20 minutes at Thursday’s annual Licking Wildcat Invitational.

But not only did Huffman reach the milestone, she surpassed it big-time by completing the flat-and-fast 5,000-meter course at Deer Lick Park in 19:25.5, good enough for second place in the deep and talented field of 74 runners.

“I’m extremely excited and proud of how well Lyla ran in this race,” said Houston head coach Justin Brown. “This was a very strong field today, and she keeps improving and pushing each and every race.”

Athletes from 18 high schools and 15 middle schools competed in the meet. The high school races featured tough competition, as fields included participants from several Class 4 and 5 schools.

Huffman’s run helped lift Class 3 Houston to third place among seven teams with 5-runner scores, while West Plains won and Camdenton was second.

West Plains freshman Kaebrynn Gunter won the race with a time of 19:11.8. Huffman led the entire first lap, while Gunter stayed near Camdenton junior Averie Hotle and Waynesville junior Brooklynn Lercher before turning up the heat during the second lap. Hotle ended up third and Lercher finished fourth.

Other runners making up the Lady Tigers’ score included senior Lilly Kincaid in 21^st with a personal-record time of 23:02.7, sophomore Jessyn Allen in 26^th, senior Natalie Clinton in 28^th and junior Adyson Dailing in 35^th (she posted a time of 25:25.3 in her first-ever high school cross country race).

“The girls had an amazing showing,” Brown said. “Many of our girls went out there and really were able to push pace with Lyla leading the way – and then having our next three girls under 24 minutes was great. And yesterday we brought Adyson in for her first ever cross country meet, and I was super proud of her and I think she’s got a lot still in the tank to give this team to help possibly propel them into a great postseason.”

In the high school boys race, Houston placed sixth among 11 teams with scores.

Senior Jack Sawyer paced the Tigers, coming in 21^st in a field of 83 with a personal-record time of 18:22.7. The next four to cross the line for Houston were junior Marcus Posant with a PR time of 18:52.6, sophomore Michael Perez in 45^th, sophomore Christopher Meier in 46^th and senior Jackson Evetts in 51^st.

West Plains junior Hunter Stanley won with a time of 16:25.6.

“It was great seeing a couple of our boys finally break under 19 and start getting into the 18-minute mark with a lot of our other boys finally starting to hit stride,” Brown said. “Hopefully we’ll have a few more of our boys pushing it into the lower 19s before the season’s over.”

HMS BOYS REMAIN UNBEATEN

By posting the lowest points total among eight teams with scores, the Houston Middle School boys kept their record unblemished in 2025. The Tigers scored 45 points, while Lebanon was second with 59.

HMS 8th-grader Oliver Choate also remained undefeated for the season, topping a tough field of 11 runners with a course-record time of 9:06.0.

“This was a great opportunity for Oliver to get pushed,” Brown said, “and he rose to the occasion and got the job done. He’s one of the hardest working kids on this team and he knows what he has to do to get the job done every single week.”

Houston 8^th-grader Charlie Benoist once again placed second at 9:07.8, while 8^th-grader Liam Stickel came in seventh, 7^th-grader Rocky Gilbert finished 11^th and 7^th-grader Dominic Stice placed 30th.

“This was the strongest field that our middle school boys have faced all year long,” Brown said. “Before the race, I told them that they were all going to have to put in a good team effort to get the job done, and they went out there and did their jobs. I’m extremely proud of how they handled the adversity and pushed as a team. I’m looking forward to seeing how well we can maintain and push through it for an undefeated season.”

On the girls side, HMS 8^th-grader Myles Copley also stayed unbeaten in 2025 by taking first in a field of 83 with a time of 10:02.9. Houston 7th-grader Hayden Jones placed 12^th, while 7^th-grader Adrian Sholtz came in 36^th.

Choate and Copley both won 7^th-grade state championships in 2024.

HHS runners will compete again Monday in the South Central Association conference championships meet at Willow Springs Municipal Golf Course.