Pace the race

EHS Cross Country leapt into the start of their new season August 29 during Houston Academy’s “The Faster You Run, The Quicker You’re Done!” meet at Eastgate Park in Dothan.

Both the boys and girls varsity teams, as well as the JV boys, won first place overall, and the JV girls received second.

For the JV boys’ two mile, eighth grader Freddy Pacheco placed third with a time of 13:20.

In the JV girls’ two mile, seventh grader Evelyn Holmes-Smith won first place and set a new school record with 13:51 as her time.

Junior at EHS, William Kim, placed second for the varsity boys’ 5K, finishing at 18:10.

In the varsity girls’ 5K run, junior Natalie Warner finished in second place with a time of 22:59.

Cross country also had their second meet at Eastgate Park September 12, but this time it was hosted by Providence Christian School. 

All four teams landed EHS in first place for this meet.

In the JV boys’ two mile, Pacheco placed first with a time of 15:18, and eighth grader Kristyan deJesus took home second, clocking in at 15:39.

For the JV girls’ two mile run, Holmes-Smith finished in second place with a time of 16:24, and seventh grader Stella Rutherford placed third at 16:27.

Finishing in first place for the varsity boys’ 5K run, senior captain Tyler Rathburn ran for 18:13.

Natalie Warner received her first win with a time of 23:05 for the varsity girls’ 5K race.

“[I feel] pretty sore, but good overall. This is a big [win] for us and I’m very proud,” Warner said.

Junior Kayleigh Riordan finished in third place for the Varsity girls’ 5K with a time of 23:05.

Despite the team’s success, there is still room for improvement according to the other varsity boys captain, Henry Templin.

“As a team, we probably really need to work more on getting [faster] with the workouts and thinking more about how we could run [better] as a whole,” Templin said.

Captain for the girls’ team, Kylie Moczynski, said “[We need to work on] building endurance, but right now I think we have a lot of potential.”