Eleven schools, including Richmond Hill and Bryan County High, competed in a cross country meet Wednesday, Sept. 30 at J.F. Gregory Park. Both the RHHS boys and girls placed in the top five while the four top BCHS runners came out with personal bests.

The Lady Wildcats placed third, behind Camden and Effingham, while the Wildcats placed fourth, behind Effingham, Camden and Statesboro. The Lady Redskins did not have enough runners for a team score while the Redskins came in ninth.

The best individual county performances came from Lady Wildcat Tyler Carlson, who took first place for girls with a time of 20:36 and Wildcat Russell Lawless who took third in 17:39. Lady Wildcat Shanee McKee came in sixth in 22:39.

Top BCHS finishers included Andre Anderson (20:39) and Alex Sapp (21:50) for the boys and Courtney Markles (26:30) and Rachel Anderson (26:31) for the girls.

RHHS Coach Jimmy Hires said both his teams have a shot at going to state. He said he lost a lot of seniors, but his two top girls, Carlson and Carrie Rivera, are back, and freshman Shanee McKee has quickly catapulted to the top of the roster. For the boys, Justin Calkins is back in top form, and senior newcomer Russell Lawless has opted out of band this year to become a top cross country runner.

As for BCHS, Coach Cindy Bennett said her teams are showing a lot of potential. Senior Alex Sapp is her lead runner for the boys, with junior Garrett Riggleman not too far behind him.

The Lady Redskin team has three regular runners, all who are doing well – Courtney Markles, Haley Stevens and Rachel Anderson. Bennett said Tiffany Howard participates – and does incredibly well – when she can fit it into her softball schedule. This year, the BCHS cheerleading squad is running cross country when able.

"They’re doing it for conditioning and obviously we don’t have them all the time, but several of them are quite good," Bennett said. "Both teams are continually getting better. Our goal is have some finishes under the twenty minute mark, and they’re working toward it. Hopefully we’ll see that come to fruition."