The cross country team traveled to the annual UTA Gerald Richey Invitational Saturday to compete against a variety of 5A and 6A teams.

The boys team locked down five of the top ten spots, and all runners finished in the top 27 out of 155 runners. Senior Will Muirhead took first overall with a time of  15:44.20 while fellow senior Brady Laboret finished right behind for a second overall finish with a time of 15:45.80. The boys finished in first place with a total of 24 points with the next closest competition Wylie High School (97 points) and Rockwall Heath (107 points) finished second and third respectively.

The girls team ran very strong and secured the first place finish with a total of 26 points, while McKinney North (85 points) and Frisco Reedy (118) points finished second and third. The girls were led by junior Amelia Carothers who finished second overall with a time of 19:21.40 and senior Sofia Estes who finished third overall with a time of 20:00.50. 

Working hard to provide the varsity boys with their third state championship in four years, Laboret said he is excited about what he noticed in the changes from the first meet to the second meet as they await runners to return from injuries. 

“The team definitely got more packed up and ran more as a unit in this meet,” Laboret said. “With getting guys back from injury in these upcoming weeks we should be able to do that even more so.”

In her second season on the varsity team, sophomore Katie Armstrong noticed how the confidence of the girls developed from the first meet into the second meet. 

“The first meet of the season is always hard because it is the first time racing since last track season, but we still did really well,” Armstrong said. “This meet, we had a lot more confidence and remembered how to race again.”

After working endless hours all summer along, Carothers observed how much of an impact the training has provided the girls team within these first two races.

“It’s nice to know that our hard work over the summer is paying off,” Carothers said. “While we still have to work hard if we want to get to state, I am confident we can do it, especially after the meet this past weekend.”