Eyre wins Southeastern Invitational for 4th consecutive season
Landen Eyre races to his sixth win of the season. (Photos courtesy of Doug Hughes)
On Saturday, Sept. 14, Whiteoak cross-country traveled to Southeastern High School to compete at the Aaron Reed Memorial Invitational. Senior Landen Eyre toed the line of 99 competitors and crossed the finish line in 16:06, which was an incredible 90 seconds ahead of second place.
This marked the fourth consecutive win at the Aaron Reed Memorial Invitational for Eyre.
“Landen is in a really good place right now,” Coach Doug Hughes said. “He rested his legs this summer a bit from his [state championship] track season, and things are really coming together for him. To win this race on this course by a minute and a half … that’s not heard of. This is a long-standing big invitational in the Southeast District with great runners from the best teams over the years.
“Landen has won all four years, and no one had ever won more than twice here. He has the course record, and I don’t see that record going anywhere.”
For the season, Eyre moves to 825-0.
Whiteoak boys followed in with respectable performances, as Keegan Eyre was 30th (20:19), Shane Mitchell-Cox 54th (21:50), Kenyon Hughes 56th (21:58) and Shawn Mitchell-Cox 70th (22:49).
On the girls side, Addy Hauke had her best meet of the season, finishing 17th out of 68 at 24:25. Teammate Aubrey Swafford finished 44th to also earn one of the Aaron Reed Memorial Dog Tags.
“Addy and Aubrey work really hard in practice, and they both have medaled in back-to-back meets,” Hughes said. “I love that for them.”
Junior high kids represented well, as Adrian Ehkator finished 16th out of 77 runners and a time of 14:21. Natalie Burnett finished 17th out of 67 for the girls with a time of 16:46, and Kenley Juillerat was 19th at 17:01.
Coach Hughes was elated afterward.
“Adrian is just a seventh grader and just figuring this stuff out,” Hughes said. “He runs a very tactical and calculated race. He’s racking up the hardware, and the future looks bright.
“Natalie and Kenley are also super smart runners with great toughness. These girls have a lot of talent, and their medal counts keep growing.”
Jason Wolf and Luke Cox rounded out the running Saturday with two solid races. Wolf finished 56th at 18:30 and Cox 66th (19:23)
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