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September 20, 2007 Madison Central's Jaguar Cross
Coutry team competed in the Saltillo Invitational on Saturday, September 15th,
as the Jags invaded the north Mississippi hotbed of distance running. Tupelo
High is the reigning 5A State Champions, and Saltillo owns the honor in
4A.
Saltillo upset Tupelo over their home course and the Jags placed 3rd
in the 11 team field.
Junior Garrett Steece and Sophomore Adam Ruhl led
the Jags with 8th and 9th place finishes and clocked their fastest races of the
year. "Garrett and Adam split Tupelo's top five runners," said coach Billy
Lamb, "and that's been hard to do for the last several years. That's a big
accomplishment for Garrett and Adam and our team. Lee (Moseley) ran his fastest
race ever,and I expect to see continued improvement from him."
Third
runner, freshman Lee Moseley placed 21st, Daniel Gilstrap - 44th and Madison
Khymes - 46th to complete the Jags scoring. Ben Lofton was 51st, Drew Hall -
53rd, and Gerard Woods - 108th. There were 133 runners in the race. "Our top
three (runners) ran well, and Madison Khymes ran his best race of the year,"
said Lamb. "This was a good opportunity for us to see how we fare against the
best in Mississippi, and it wasn't bad. It shows us how far we have to go and
that we have to keep working hard to be competitive."
The Jr. High boys
placed 4th in their race. Leading the way was Madden becker who placed 13th and
was the team's only award winner. Chase Lanke was in at 22nd, Andrew Alexander
was 31st, Ryan Skelly - 40th, Britain Morris - 41st, Conner Willson - 43rd,
Graham Ahlrich - 48th, Timothy Clark - 54th, Austin Baney - 71st, Richie Reedy -
85th, Nathan Smith 88th, and Reid Stover - 99th out of 143 runners.
The
Jags compete in the Mississippi State Invitational next Saturday. "Tupelo and
Pearl will be there, so the heat will still be on," said Lamb. "Plus it will be
a long day. The Jr. High races start at 8:00. We will have to leave Madison at
4:30."
September 10, 2007 The Madison Central boys Cross Country team placed 2nd at the
University of Southern Mississippi Invitational on Friday, September
7th. Perennial power Pearl High won the 25 team meet with 58
points to MC's 71. Slidell, LA was third with 106, and Northwest
Rankin was 4th with 154. Brandon had 165 for 5th.
Leading the way for the Jags was sophomore, Adam Ruhl, a 2006 5A All
State runner who claimed the runner-up spot in the race.
Finishing 5th was junior Garrett Steece, and freshman Lee Moseley was
8th in the 5,000 meter race. Juniors Daniel Gilstrap and Madison
Khymes placed 27th and 28th to complete the Jags' scorers.
"In spite of our having 3 runners in the top 10 (finishers), Pearl was
able to do to us what we did top them in the girls race," said coach
Billy Lamb. "They put 7 runners in before our 4th finished."
"Adam Ruhl (sophomore) really impressed me with his race," said
Lamb. "He hasn't been able to train well for a month, and he ran
so easily. He has a sore hip. He was well in control all
through the race, but I knew Morris Kersh (Pearl) was just
waiting to run fast at the end. If Adam can get back to some good
training runs, maybe he can be one of the best 5A runners again.
"Garrett Steece (junior) probably ran his best cross country race ever,
and Lee Moseley (freshman) keeps running faster and faster," said
Lamb. "We have never finished this high at Southern, and never
beaten Slidell, so I'm pleased with how the boys ran."
"Every thing gets tougher and faster from here on out. We'll have to
run better in the next few weeks to keep being happy after the meet,"
said Lamb. The Jags travel to north Mississippi for the Saltillo
Tiger Invitational. "We'll see Tupelo (5A Champions), Saltillo
(4A Champions), and some Alabama teams," said Lamb. They put on a
great meet, and I'm excited to get to go and see how we can do."
Jaguar Places/times (5,000 meter race):
2. Adam
Ruhl
18:21
5. Garrett Steece 18:52
8. Lee
Moseley
19:09
27. Daniel Gilstrap 20:32
29. Madison Khymes 20:33
38. Madden Becker 20:55
45. Andy Robinson 21:11
66. Chase
Lanke
21:51
80. Andrew Alexander 22:20
83. Pierson Crowder 22:30
129. Conner Willson 24:33
230 total runners
September 4, 2007
Madison Central's boys Cross Country team opened the 2007 season with a
win at the Warren Central Invitational held in Bovina. The Jags
had the low score of 45 to Clinton's 50, South Panola's 76, Vicksburg's
110, West Lauderdale's 129, Warren Central's 192, St. Aloysius' 200,
and Natchez's 245.
Finshing first for the Jags was junior Garrett Steece who placed 2nd
after leading most of the race. His time of 16:56 was the fastest for
the Jag team over the 4,700 meter course at Bovina. Freshman Lee
Moseley was next in 3rd with 17:12. An 8th grader, Madden Becker
finished next for the Jags placing 11th with a time of 18:32. Madison
Khymes, a junior placed 13th with 18:38, and Sophomore Ben Lofton was
the Jags 5th runner placing 16th in 18:53. Andy Robinson, a
transfer from JA was the Jags 6th runner, and Drew Hall was the 7th
finisher for the team.
"I'm proud for Garrett. He ran a good race and had a chance to
win, but just couldn't get a kick going at the end", said coach Billy
Lamb entering his 9th year as Madison Central's Cross Country
coach. "Lee's race was a good surprise. His training has
been going well and he's always been very competitive, but this was by
far his best race ever. Madden Becker is another one of these young
little guys who can really run. It's going to be interesting to see how
we will be able to measure up against the better teams in the state."
"I entered Katelyn Walker in the boys race because I wanted her to run the longer distance. She will have a couple
of races this fall at that distance, and I wanted her to get some
experience having to go longer and faster. She is better than
most of the boys anyway. She placed 28th out of 110 boys, but she
will be back with the girl's team from now on," said Lamb.
The Jags next race is the University of Southern Miss Invitational at
Hattiesburg's Tatum Park. The meet attracts all of the better
distance running schools from the central and southern sections of the
state. The boys race starts at 4:00 Friday afternoon, September
7th.
The remainder of the team at the meet were: Andrew Alexander,
Pierson Crowder, Tyler Chandler, Conner Willson, Ryan Skelly, Britain
Morris, Graham Ahlrich, Gerard Woods, Timothy Clark, Bryce Nader, and
RIchie Reedy.
