Area 1A schools gathered at Midway High School on Wednesday afternoon to compete in the district cross country meet.
While none of the area teams finished first as Slidell swept both awards, there were still several teams and individuals that did well and qualified for the regional meet.
On the girl’s side, the Bellevue girls team came up just three points short of Slidell to finish second overall. The Lady Eagles top runner Grace Martin also finished first overall with a time of 13:12.
The top five for Bellevue also included Brittany Gill (6th), Kaycee Conner (8th), Tristian Shook (10th) and Patience Ramsey (20th).
Coach John McGee was proud of his girls and hopes it’s not the last accomplishment for his team.
“They ran hard and were well disciplined in their approach,” McGee said. “Last year we placed 3rd in district and this year 2nd, so we are definitely headed in the right direction.
Our goal for the regional meet is to go to state. Our girls have been working really hard this year and we can see the results of their hard work.”
The Prairie Valley Lady Bulldogs also qualified for the regional meet as they finished third overall. Top runner Linzie Priddy finished third overall with a time of 14:00. The top five runners for the Lady Bulldogs included Karagan Ritchie (12th), Makaylee Gomez (13th), Carmen Gomez (14th) and Natalee Young (17th).
Coach Amanda Aldriedge was proud her girls work all season culminated with a regional qualification.
“I am beyond proud of how the girls ran on Wednesday afternoon,” Aldriedge said. “I asked them to give it their all, and they went above and beyond what they were asked, resulting in new personal records from two of the girls. They have been working hard all season, and they were able to see the progress and results of all of their hard work.”
On the boy’s side, Saint Jo finished second overall to qualify for the regional meet. Top runner Collin Thomas, who is a three time state qualifier, finished sixth overall with a time of 18:45. He was dealing with an unspecified injury that would later lead to him passing out after the race, but he was given fluids and was told he was going to be fine.
The top five finishers for the Panthers also included Elijah Young (10th), Jayden Curry (12th), Josh Vogel (14th) and Julian Luna (17th).
Coach Ryan Bruce knows his team has had to battle injuries with multiple runners
“I’m happy with the ones who stepped up and the ones that battled through injuries to get us qualified,” Bruce said. “I am hoping that we get a little healthier before regionals and battle for that fourth spot to qualify for state.”
Individually, two girls and two boys finished in the top 10 to qualify for the regional meet.
From Gold-Burg Isaac Renteria and Ollie Gaston finished first and second overall in their races. Renteria qualified for state last year as a freshman and finished with a time of 17:09 while Gaston finished with a time of 13:26.
“We expect, with the times these two are putting up and how well they have been running, to be sitting in a good place going into regionals,” Boy’s Coach Jesse Vaughn said. “We have hopes of neither of their seasons ending there.”
Lady Rabbit Coach Cheryl Cromleigh had nothing but praise for Gaston in her first big race.
“I am so so proud of Ollie, I thought she ran a perfect race,” Cromleigh said. “She had raced against Grace three times before and yesterday was by far their best race. I told her to stay right with Grace, the more experienced runner and she did. She almost got her. I’m so proud and I truly believe she has a chance to go to state. Such a special day for a very special athlete.”
From Saint Jo, the only girl runner Kaycee Clark finished ninth overall with a time of 15:33 to qualify for the regional meet.
From the Prairie Valley boy’s team, Tyler Winkler qualified for regional’s finishing eighth overall with a time of 19:03.
Unfortunately his teammate Eli Croxton, who qualified for the state meet the previous year, won’t be joining him. Croxton was dealing with a hamstring injury that kept him out the previous meet. He tried to give it a go, but was unable to finish the race.
Coach Seth Stephens his whole team fell just short of qualifying for regionals, finishing fourth a year after qualifying as a team the previous year. Still, he was proud of Winkler.
“We’re obviously excited about Tyler advancing to the regional meet,” Stephens said. “It’s been a goal of his to run at the state cross country meet, so he’ll be training hard to be able to make it to that next level.”
Forestburg’s only runner at the meet, Justynne Roller, unfortunately did not end up qualifying for the regional meet. Roller finished 16th overall with a time of 16:16.
The regional meet is scheduled for Oct. 25 at Lynn Creek Park in Grand Prairie. The girls race will start at 12:10 p.m. and the boys after at 12:40 p.m.

To see results for all of the high school varsity runners from Saint Jo, Forestburg, Prairie Valley, Gold-Burg or Bellevue, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.