Lions finish runners-up at Unioto Invitational
The Fairfield High School boys and girls teams competed in the Unioto Cross-Country Invitational held on Saturday, Oct. 10, with the boys finishing runners-up by three points (56-59) to Division II Unioto.
The boys were victorious over the following schools: Logan Elm, River Valley, Rock Hill, Waverly, Zane Trace, Gallia Academy, Westfall, Meigs, Alexander, Western Brown, Chillicothe, Huntington, Vinton County, New Lexington, Trimble, Beaver Eastern, Nelsonville York, Paint Valley, Williamsburg, Washington Court House, Adena, McClain and Piketon.
"It is a solid performance for us anytime we can go into the home course of a program the caliber of Unioto, who has qualified for state for the last 12 consecutive years in Division II boys, and have seven of our runners perform at 17:02 and under," FHS volunteer coach Bill Mangus said.
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"It is a good day for our program. Coach Raymond Friend, coaching staff and I know that we have talented, hard-working kids that are benefitting from their outstanding work ethic Individually, Noah Richmond ran the best race of his high school career thus far."
Running first man for Fairfield and sixth overall was Richmond (a sophomore) with a time of 16:16. Following Richmond was Wyatt Evans, 16:36; Trent Swisher, 16:37; Austin Setty, 16:46; Andrew Davis, 16:49; Matthew Mangus, 16:59; Dillon Burley, 17:02; Nick Price, 17:30; Bennett Hodson, 17:35; Brandtson Duffie, 17:37; Sam Buddelmeyer, 17:55; Mason Cain, 18:25; Lane Frost, 19:54; Phoenix Taylor, 22:06; Jason Moeller, 22:33; and Riley Friend, 26:53. The boys field had 243 competitors.
The high school girls team finished 16th of 20 teams. Running first for Fairfield and 54th overall was freshman Alexis Swisher with a time of 21:39. Following Swisher was Megan Gragg, 21:41; Sammi Shepherd, 22:59; Meadow Cunningham, 24:46; Andrea Spears, 25:41, and Brianna Barnes, 28:38. There were 184 competitors in the HS girls race.
All teams will be competing at the Southern Hills Athletic Conference (SHAC) championships held at Ripley High School on Saturday, Oct. 17. The races will begin at 10 a.m. with middle school girls, middle school boys, high school girls and concluding with high school boys.