The Oxford Men’s Cross Country Team completed their highly successful season a little differently than they hoped.
The team came in fourth for Division Two regional competition with 108 points. The Wildcats were pushed out of state competition by Flint Powers, Fenton and Crosswell-Lexington.
Oxford is proud to see runner Kenny White qualify for state individuals with a 14th place finish at 16:59. White’s goal at states is to shave off 12 more seconds from his overall time and make the Wildcat record board.
Other runners placing were Kevin Brown in 17th with 17:25, German Guerrero in 20th with 17:35, and Todd Davidson in 27th with 17:57. Placing 37th was Tim Rowland, 48th was Brad Haney and 57th was Adam Richmond.
A shock for the team going into regionals was the injury of senior captain and lead runner Donnie Richmond. According to Coach Ray Sutherland, Richmond was hit by a stress fracture right before competition.
“Just the pounding of running can cause this,” explained Sutherland. “He is such a hard-core, dedicated runner, that the stress can finally cause damage.”
The men’s team will be saying good-bye to seniors Kevin Brown, Tim Rowland, Donnie Richmond, Mike Rubio and Nolan Walters.
“They are very, very good kids,” said Sutherland. “Very difficult to replace, but we’re not going to miss a beat. We expect to be very competitive again next year.”
The Oxford Women’s Cross Country Team finished there season at regionals with 232 points and a 10th place finish. The top three places for the ladies were Lauren Cribb in 38th with 22:38, Jacque Magdeleno in 40th with 22:41 and Shannon Walter in 47th with 23:19.
There were no senior runners for the women this year, and those returning for next season expect only to improve upon this year’s records.