Saturday, August 28 dawned sunny and warm for Marietta’s annual Red River Showdown Cross Country Invitational meet held in Legacy Park, but the heat didn’t stop student athletes from high and middle schools across the area from showing up ready to compete. Runners from Byng, Plainview, Durant, Madill, Ardmore, Dickson, Colbert, and Silo, along with S&S Consolidated School from Texas, came prepared to face off against the hosting Marietta Indians.
In the high school boys’ 5k race, the Indians took fourth place in the team standings behind first place Byng with 26 points, Plainview with 74 points, and Durant with 90 points. The Indians accumulated 98 points and had a total time of 1:36:21.
Among the 81 runners, junior Wyatt Vinson placed second in the meet with a time of 16:55.47. Senior runner Kyler Williams placed 12th with 18:24.12. Preston Eastmon, a junior, and sophomore teammate Will Laws came in 21st and 29th, with times of 19:49.03 and 20:10.58, respectively. Rounding out the top five for the Indians was sophomore Charles Adan Jones with a time of 21:01.57. Also running for the Indians on Saturday were junior Sergio Gomez and sophomore Jason Landis. Gomez’s time was 21:04.85 and Landis’s was 27:56.55.
In the high school girls’ 3200m competition, the Lady Indians team placed fourth with 109 points behind first place Byng with 34, Plainview with 80, and Madill with 100.
Junior Tanasia Randle was the team’s highest placing runner, in sixth with a time of 13:22.77. Freshmen Maddy Torres and Alina Fernandez placed ninth and 22nd with times of 13:36.75 and 14:26.86. Rounding out the team’s top five runners were juniors Timberlee Riley in 34th place with 15:12.93 and Rosie Castellanos in 38th place with 15:26.87.
Isabella Salas Garcia, a senior, ran the race in 15:47.30, followed closely by junior Kora Humble in 16:11.47. Senior Yaslin Sanchez finished in 17:18.30, freshman Yasmin Castellanos in 17:54.95, and junior Brandy Palomino in 18:24.25.
In the middle school boys’ race, the Indians finished the 3200m race in sixth place. Tripp Lutkennaus was the highest-placing individual runner, coming in second in a time of 12:09.05. Javion McCarroll and Brylun Anderson ran 26th and 27th, with times of 15:29.33 and 15:40.14, respectively. Eduardo Rueda ran 31st in 16:09.92 and Caiden McCarroll was 32nd in 16:11.24 to round out the top five runners.
Mayer Mansfield finished in 16:15.55, Adan Andrade in 16:51.37, Andy Gomez in 17:41.83, Brody Bazor in 17.54.78, Kason Gilley in 18:43.77, and Caiden Baker in 23.04.61.
The middle school Lady Indians were second in their 2400m girls’ race.
Liliana Fernandez had the highest finishing time of 11:02.97, taking seventh place in the meet. In ninth was Abigail Garcia’s time of 11:17.03. Ainslei Beldsoe finished in 12th in 11:46.06. Arlette Andrade came in 19th with 12:14.40, followed closely by Izabella Fernandez in 20th with a time of 12:16.68 and Yulissa Gonzalez in 21st place with a time of 12:32.09.
Overall, first year head coach Tanica Anderson was pleased with her student athletes’ performance in their first official meet of the season.
“We had several finishers who medaled, which was great,” she said. “Wyatt Vinson competed strongly. I also thought Tanasia Randle, Maddy Torres, Tripp Lutkennaus, Liliana Fernandez, and Abigail ran well in their divisions. We’re looking forward to seeing all of our athletes improve with each meet.”