Both the boys’ and girls’ cross country teams had strong showings at the Oct. 20 Cap-8 meet.

The boys finished 4^th, while the girls’ team finished in 3^rd place.

Both teams finished in the highest place under coach Patrick Marshall’s tenure. Marshall has been head coach for nine seasons.

Freshman Erin Spreen led the girls with an impressive 3^rd place finish. Spreen’s 18:32.34 was only 5 seconds off of the 2^nd place finisher from Leesville.

The girls narrowly edged out Millbrook by two points 100 to 102. The girls took 3^rd, 16^th, 20^th, 29^th, and 32^nd while Millbrook had finishers at 8^th, 9^th, 26^th, 28^th, and 31^st place.

“I was happy they were able to finish the highest in my time as coach. I would have liked to have taken second place, but we were able to hold on to third without one of our top runners,” Marshall said.

Senior Trelek Jones was lead boy runner, cracking the 17 minute mark with his 15^th place 16:56.12.

The boys’ trailed Millbrook in the 3^rd spot by a score of 88 to 113, but edged Enloe in the 5^th spot with 121 points.

“We had a lot of sickness,” Marshall said of the boys’ team. “We were predicted to finish third, so fourth was still good. I’m proud of them for doing well.”

With a healthy boys team and the girls’ team at full strength, Marshall hopes for a stronger performance at the regional meet.

At the regional meet this Saturday, Oct. 31, the top four teams in both boys and girls advance to the state meet. In addition, the top seven runners—not on one of those top four teams—advance as individuals.

A run-down of the top seven Cougar finishers in both girls and boys at the Cap-8 meet is below.