The Eagle’s varsity cross country team traveled to McLane High School to run in the Highlander Invitational, Sept. 5.

The meet was seperated into three race sections: varsity, JV and freshman-sophomore. Varsity athletes ran the 5k (3.1 mile) course, and the rest ran a shorter 2.2 mile course.

Juniors Tyler Laird and Daniel Moore competed in the boys varsity race. Out of 116 runners, Laird placed 49th with a time of 20:36 and Moore finished in 94th at 24:07.

Ryan King, ’15, entered in the 2.2 mile 9-10 grade race against 84 other runners. He crossed the finish line in 68th at 17:51.

“I didn’t feel all too good about the meet myself,” King said. “My coach said I did a good job on the first mile, and I felt like I did a lot better than last year for that first mile. The second mile wasn’t as good, but overall I think I am getting a better start this year than last year.”

Cross country Coach Ross Laird was also optimistic about the meet in comparison with the previous year.

“Wednesday’s {Sept. 5} meet showed good improvement over last year, certainly,” Laird said. “Tyler started this year just about where he finished last year, and Daniel Moore, dropped off a little, but is much better than the start of last year. Ryan King made massive improvement, so this was a good start to the season.”

The next meet is at Kingsburg High School, Sept. 8.

For more information, read the Sept. 7 article Cross country in need of runners.