The top three teams and top ten individuals moved on to the state cross country meet last Saturday in Austin. Junior Mesa Allison represented the Canyon boys down south with his sixth place regional finish.

I was excited that I actually made it, but I didn’t do as well as I wanted to at regionals,” Allison said. “Going into state I was trying to redeem myself, but that didn’t really work out so well.”

Allison finished 29^th place and said he thought he did well, but that he just didn’t meet his goals.

“Mesa placed well, there is room for him to do a lot better in the future and could possibly be on the podium next year,” boys cross country coach Wes Kirton said.

The girls also finished in first place in the Lubbock Invitational Sept. 24, defeating the competition they will face at regionals.

With the Canyon Invitational being a good indicator for the district meet Oct. 28 and the Lubbock Invitational being a prediction for Regionals on Nov. 5, the girls cross country team is optimistic as they prepare.

“I feel pretty confident that our girls are going to perform well at district,” girls cross country coach Ray Baca said. “The next two weeks after district will be mainly focused on competing at state.”

The boys’ varsity cross country team came in second place in the Canyon Invitational Oct. 8. Junior Mesa Allison led the boys with a time of 16:06 for the 5k, followed by sophomore Kole Bryan, junior Keevan Coffman, junior Cody Lane and junior Austin Moore finishing up Canyon’s top five runners with 87 points.

The varsity boys also finished sixth place in the Lubbock Invitational Sept. 24.

“Even though we came in sixth, I think we still have a chance to be in the top three at Regionals,” boys cross country coach Wes Kirton said. 

The JV boys were second to Tascosa by a score of 28 to 37 in the Canyon Invitational and were led by senior Cory Fenton, freshman Christian Cobb and freshman Jacob Wilhelm finishing fourth, sixth, and seventh. Junior Cole McCrary and freshman Trevor Fleeman were 16^th and 17^th.

Junior Mesa Allison led the team, finishing in first. Junior Keevan Coffman finished in eighth, sophomore Kole Bryan finished 16^th, sophomore James Ray finished 31^st, junior Austin Moore finished 52^nd, and senior Cory Fenton finished 64^th.

The JV boys cross country team finished in third place behind Frenship and Lubbock Coronado.

Junior Collin Backus finished sixth, followed by freshman Christian Cobb 10^th, freshman Jacob Wilhelm 24^th, junior Cole McCrary 29^th, freshman Lucas McCrary 41^st and sophomore Nick Davidson 56^th.

The boys will compete at the district meet Oct. 28 at West Texas A&M.

The team went to state with a regional championship behind them and hopes to make it on the podium. The race started out with every girl striving to take the lead, something new to the Canyon runners.

As the 3000 meter race came to a close, sophomore Arin Rice headed to the front of the pack, battling for 11th place with a time of 11:32.

Freshmen Courtney Karr and Karah Diaz ran close together all the way to the finish line. Karr placed 27th with a time of 11:56 and Diaz placed 28th with a time of 11:57.

Junior C.J. Frizzell ran a 12:19 and placed 51st, closely followed by senior Leslie Brummett placing 52nd, with a time of 12:21.

Senior Kateland Maddox and sophomore Stephanie Guana brought up the back for Canyon and placed 56th and 72nd respectively.

Sophomore Mesa Allison led the team placing 34 with a time of 16:32.  Senior Jared Beatty followed Allison to the placing 44 with a time of 16:43.

Senior Austin O’Brien and sophomore Keevan Coffman came in next. O’Brien placed 73 with a time of 17:18 beating Coffman, 82 with a time of 17:27.

Senior Keevyn Anderson out ran freshman Nephi Ginnett placing 90 and 91 consecutively.

Cody Lane was the last runner in for the Eagles and placed 96.

The girls’ cross country team won the Regional meet w ith Canyon’s own Arin Rice, a sophomore, taking first place with a time of 11:08, outrunning Randall’s Karlee Kleiber by .4 seconds.

Next in was Leslie Brummett, placing ninth with a time of 11:41. Karah Diaz caught up with Brummett but was unable to pass her in the final leg of the race and placed tenth with a time of 11:42.

Courtney Karr and CJ Frizzell were next to come in placing 12 and 13 consecutively. Also, Stephanie Guana,  who placed 24th with a time of 12:08, and Kateland Maddox, 26th with a time of 12:09, helped bring in Canyon’s victory.

 The Lady Eagles had all 7 runners in the top 30 places and took first out of the 24 teams participating in the event.

The 5000 meter boys’ race began with Mesa Allison, Jared Beatty, and Austin O’Brien taking the lead for the Canyon runners. Allison battled all the way to the finish line against two Hereford runners but was unable to pass them and placed third with a time of 17:22. Beatty and O’Brien battled back and forth the entire race, fighting to push the other. Beatty was able to pull up ahead and placed eighth with a time of 17:54. O’Brien followed a few seconds behind, placing ninth with a time of 18:00. Other key members were Keevan Coffman, placing 14, shortly followed by Keevyn Anderson, Nephi Ginnett, and Cody Lane who placed 16, 17, and 18 consecutively.

The 3000 meter girls’ race started out with Arin Rice, Courtney Karr, and Karah Diaz taking the lead.  Rice ran against a Randall senior all the way to the finish line, barely losing in the last 20 meters. Rice placed second with Karr and Diaz following shortly behind, placing third and fourth consecutively. The next pack of runners to arrive at the finish line was Leslie Brummet, placing 9, CJ Frizzell, placing 10, and Stephanie Gauna, seconds behind placing 11. Kateland Maddox pulled up the rear placing 16.

Both the boys and girls placed first in the district and have the potential to make the state meet.

Courtney Karr placed sixth closely followed by Leslie Brummett who placed ninth with times of 12:13 and 12:19 consecutively.  Overall, the girls team ranked second of sixteen teams.

The next race for both the girls’ and boys’ team will be the Buffalo Stampede Oct. 9 at West Texas A&M Horse Center.

The team finished third overall with a team total of 91, behind second place Hereford(84) and first place Saginaw Boswell (62).

Freshman Arin Rice finshed first for the team and third overall with a time of 11:52.

Senior Caitlin Gilmore finshed fourth at 11:53.

Junior Leslie Brummett finished 13th at 12:18.

Sophmore C.J. Frizzell finished 29th at 12:36.

Kimberly Davis finshed 46th at 12:51.

Junior Kateland Maddox finished 47th at 12:51.

Sophmore Candace Herrera finished 68th at 13:10.

The boys claimed the district championship with a team score of 38.

Senior Will Welling finished first overall with a time of 16:42, senior Josh Backus finished 7^th at 17:17, junior Jared Beatty 10^th at 17:48, junior Jason Ray 11^th at 17:51, freshman Mesa Allison 13^th at 17:56, junior Keevyn Anderson 14^th at 18:00 and senior Lee Alexander 15^th at 18:10.

The boys beat second place Hereford by 11 points.

The girls placed second overall with a team score of 43.

Freshman Arin Rice finished third with a time of 11:55, senior Caitlin Gilmore finished fifth at 12:00, junior Leslie Brummett sixth at 12:17, and sophomore Candace Herreva  finished at fourteenth at 12:48 in the top 15 overall.

Both the girls and boys JV teams placed first in the JV races.

The boys and girls varsity teams will compete Nov. 7 at the Region 1 Championship meet in Lubbock.