By Stephen Henderson

The Patrick County High School cross country teams traveled to Blacksburg Saturday to run in the Blacksburg Relays. According to new cross country coach Lynne Deckel, the team did well for the first competition of the season.

“Every athlete showed a lot of tenacity. The added water jump and hay bale provided some interesting obstacles for athletes to navigate, and I think they handled it well,” she said.

According to Deckel, the Blacksburg race is not the typical 5K cross country race—it is a relay where runners run 2K segments and arrive at a total for the team. “The meet in itself is unique,” she said.

The Cougar men’s team finished eighth out of 24 teams. The times for the team members were: Zach Montgomery, 6:55; Monroe Morse, 6:58; Brandon Rohrbach, 7:55; Jared Biedrycki, 7:24; and Kristian Reynolds, 7:04.

In the boys’ open race, Tristian Moore placed eighth overall with a time of 8:19.

For the Lady Cougar women’s open race, Macie Rogers finished second with a time of 8:55; Armonte Carter finished third with a time of 9:03; and Ashton Collins placed sixth with a time of 9:16.

“We have plenty to work on going forward, but overall, I am pleased with that first performance,” Deckel said.

The highlights of Saturday’s performance was Macie and Armonte performing especially, earning second and third in the open race, and the teamwork and drive of the entire boys’ relay team showed to earn eighth” Deckel said.

The cross country teams will compete against Bassett at the Smith River Sports Complex Thursday at 4:30 p.m.