Gainesville XC competes at Alton; Boys bring home second straight team win, girls take third

The Gainesville Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs cross country teams competed at Alton Wednesday. The boys won their second straight team championship and the girls placed third.

The Bulldogs scored 41 points to win the 12-school boys competition, finishing ahead of East Carter with 47 and Van Buren with 58.

Aiden Thome led Gainesville with a fourth-place finish in 18:12, followed by Archer Luna in fifth at 19:01 and Cayden Emrick in seventh at 19:05. Corbin Dees placed 13th in 19:56, Zaiden Rodrigue was 17th in 20:04 and Danny Mason finished 23rd in 20:22.

Zyler Rowland placed 44th, Hunter Gott 47th, Dallin Sunday 54th, Brycen Martin 55th and Bryar Swartz 62nd.

The Lady Bulldogs finished third among nine schools with 57 points, behind East Carter and Twin Rivers.

Jessica Suit successfully defended her Alton Invitational title, winning the girls race in 21:26 for her second consecutive championship. Isabelle Workman placed 17th in 26:04, Calla Cochran was 23rd in 27:36, Sierra Jarvis 29th in 29:27 and Arabella Veach-Lane 30th in 29:46.

Payton Eslinger finished 31st, Anna Klessig 33rd, Jazlynn Wittkofski 36th, Mallory Simpson 44th and Emma Klessig 46th.

Coaches Gary Emrick and David Murphy said the Bulldogs continue to emphasize mindset, race strategy, responding to pressure and encouraging teammates when races become difficult.

“We race. We learn. We go back to work. We get better,” Murphy said.

With two meets complete, the boys have two team victories, while the girls have shown steady improvement highlighted by their third-place finish and Suit’s back-to-back individual titles.

Gainesville competed at Ava on Tuesday. Results of that meet were unavailable at presstime. The Bulldogs  will host the Gainesville Invitational meet Saturday. 

Elementary boys and girls race at 9, followed by junior high boys and girls at 9:25. Those runners do a 1.5 mile loop. 

Varsity 3.1 mile races follow, with the girls running at 9:45 and the boys at 10:20.  Everyone is invited to attend.