After securing high placements at the Lovejoy Fall Festival, the cross country team looks to keep their momentum rolling as they travel all the way up to Fayetteville, Arkansas for the Chile Pepper Meet, held at one of the largest nation wide cross country and track centers.

“Last week, we showed what we can do against high competition around the state,” sophomore Whitson Bedell said. “We are in a great spot right now to continue our winning streak, and I think we have a great chance to perform really well down the road.”

At the Lovejoy Fall Festival, the boys finished first overall ahead of elite teams like Donna North, Plano West, and Lewisville Hebron. Finishing first on the team was sophomore Brady Laboret at 15th overall at 15:52, followed by sophomore Will Muirhead at 20th overall with a time of 15:58, next was junior Brett Pedersen at 25th overall with a time of 16:04. The team won at their point value of 130, with second place Hebron 51 points behind at 181.

“Last week was the best race that the girls team has ever run as a whole, junior Carson Hockersmith said. “I’m pretty sure our entire varsity team walked away with personal records which is very cool, but going forward into the championship season we will need to work on beating the people that we will see at regionals.”

The girls finished at eighth overall out of 19 teams that raced. The top girl finishers were Hockersmith at 19th overall with a time of 19:07. Sophomore Sofia Estes followed Hockersmith finishing 28th overall at 19:37, then the next girl to follow was freshman Amelia Carothers at 19:54, finishing at 42nd overall.

“The team right now is very excited, we are undefeated so far,” senior Ryan Brands said. “Our races and workouts are going perfect to our plan.”

At the Chile Pepper meet, the guys team will be bringing the top 12 members of the team and the girls will be bringing 12 as well. Brands said that the meet will be treated more as a workout and a bonding experience due to the fact that it is a 10k meet as opposed to the regular distance of 5k.

“The Chile Pepper meet is a time for the team to refocus our goals for the season and dial down getting ready for the championships,” Brands said.