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The Bob Jones cross country team made a statement on September 7th at the Chickasaw Trails Invitational, a meet that hosts the best cross country teams of the Southeast. The 5-kilometer races at the cross country meet are some of the most anticipated and competitive of the year.
The boys’ team placed 18th out of 42 teams on Saturday, September 7th. But that is not the whole story. The team improved immensely from the meet just seven days before. Lead by Peyton Tyler, who placed 13th overall on Saturday with a time of 16:49, the boys’ team has shed itself of the growing pains it endured in its first race. More impressive was how tightly packed the second, third, fourth, and fifth Bob Jones boys were. Only twenty-two seconds separated the second runner and the fifth runner. Such team chemistry is what this team needs if it is to compete at the state meet on November 9th.
The girls’ team placed 10th out of 41 teams. Like the boys’ team, the girls’ team showed massive improvements. Lindsey Martin and Lillie Robinson, who ran times of 20:44 and 20:47, respectively, ran together most of the race. The same goes for the rest of the team. The third and fifth Bob Jones girls were only separated by about eighteen seconds. By running in closely-knit packs, the team positioned itself among the top ten cross country teams in the Southeast.
Peyton Tyler, the leader of the boys’ team, said, “We did well on Saturday, but it could have been better. There is a lot of room for improvement, but we’ll figure it out as we get a few more races under our belts.” Lillie Robinson, a leader of the girls’ team, had similar feelings. “I was impressed at how much we improved,” she said. “Still, we can run in tighter packs, which would make our team even better.”
Such an auspicious start to the Bob Jones cross country team’s season is exactly what it needed to establish itself as a true competitor among the best cross country teams of the Southeast.
