Running on their own beautifully manicured course, Logan County's cross country teams made history Saturday and are adding to it this weekend.
Both the Cougars and the Lady Cougars qualified as teams for the state meet in Lexington via their finishes in the regional action on the LCHS course
Nov. 7. It's the second straight trip to the state meet for the boys and the first-ever state qualificaiton for the boys.
"I am ecstatic with both of our teams. We did not run our best races at Regionals Saturday, but we knew we could still qualify," says Coach Greg
Howard, who has spent countless hours preparing the field and the team for regional action.
"Our boys ended up third despite slower than normal performances and our number one runner not being in the top 3. Sye Head and Troy Fulcher, our
number one and two runners, both woke up with a stomach virus Saturday but still gave their all. Freshman Noah Thomas stepped it up with a PR on
Saturday when we needed a spark."
Skipworth is the team's only senior abd is making his first state appearance. The boys are mostly freshman and a few sophomores. Other Cougars running
in regional besides Head, Fulcher, Thomas, Skipworth were Colton Spencer and Justin Holloway. Also on the team are Devon Cross, Dylan Cole, Evan
Harris, Cory Ford and manager Kyle Latham.
The Cougars placed 16th at state last year. Howard is hoping for a top 10 finish in 2009.
The Lady Cougars are led by two seniors in Kelsey Hinton and Macie Dye. "These two girls along with their teammates exceeded expectations, but at the
same time we knew they were quite capable if they would step up," Howard says.
"The other girls did just that. Claire Hopkins, Amber Thorlton, and Sammie Collins did a great job of coming through, especially when number one runner
Hinton was nursing a leg ailment.
"I am so proud of both teams for making cross country at our school what it is today, but especially our girls. Tremendous job by all!