Bassett’s cross country team held its annual Bengals Clash at the River at the Smith River Sports Complex last Thursday afternoon. Teams from all over Southwest Virginia were in attendance. Bengal junior Connor Kinkema won the boy’s race with a time of 17:39.

Patrick County High School’s boys’ team placed fifth with a total of 101 points; Hidden Valley won the race with 48 points.

In girls’ competition, Hidden Valley also won with 25 points. Unfortunately, the Lady Cougars only had four runners in competition, so they could not compete for team standings.

Monroe Morse led the Cougars, finishing fourth with a time of 18:28. Zach Montgomery placed 13th in 19:28, followed by Jared Biedrycki in 25th. Kristian Reynolds, Brandon Rohrbach and Tristian Moore rounded out the Cougar runners.

Macie Rogers was the top Lady Cougar runner, finishing eighth in 22:39. Ashton Collins placed 11th in 23:38. Armonte Carter came in 16th in 24:26, and Arielle Taylor placed 27th in 25:55.

In the middle school race, Riley Brim finished 16th in 16:44 while Vanessa Mabe finished eighth in 18:28 in the girls’ race.

“Overall, it was a decent showing considering this was the first official 5k of the season,” said Coach Lynne Deckel. “Everyone ran hard and showed a lot of heart, which is all I ever ask for,” she added.

“We have a lot to work on going forward, and Knight’s Crossing should provide some solid competition for us to prepare for the regional meet later in the season,” she added.

Other schools competing in last week’s River clash included Franklin County, William. Byrd, Martinsville, Magna Vista, Hidden Valley, William Fleming, Faith Christian Academy, and Carlisle.

The Cougars travel to Cave Spring for the Knight’s Crossing event Saturday. The girls’ race starts at 8:30 a.m. and the boys’ starts at 11 a.m.