History was made for the Joshua High School Cross Country Teams on Monday.
Both the girls and boys teams ran in the Regional Meet at Jesse Owens Park in Dallas. The Boys team finished 9th out of 16 teams, the highest finish in school history. Joshua will also have a representative at the State Qualifier, as Nathan Ford finished 15th overall out of 136 runners with a time of 16:47.
"This young man [Nathan] works as hard as anyone," said Boys Cross Country Coach Jeffrey Brooks. "He is the first boy to reach state for Joshua in at least two decades, maybe ever, and it could not be a better person. He was smart in the first mile, then made a move and ran with a ton of guts coming down the stretch."
Other Boys results:
Joseph Aguirre: 17:21 (25th overall)
Alejandro Prieto: 18:17 (56th overall)
Grant Cheatle: 18:32 (72nd overall)
Abram Friddle: 18:58 (83rd overall)
Henley Hutchinson: 18:59 (84th overall)
Daniel Honstein: 21:32 (123rd overall)
The Girls team finished 12th out of 16 teams, a big jump from 2019 when they finished 15th in Regionals. Leading the way was Caitlyn Combs with a time of 21:52, finishing 55th overall out of 126.
The rest of the girls finished in the following order:
Nancy Palacios 22:01 (59th Overall)
Emma Mendoza: 22:29 (70th Overall)
Kaitlyn Strother 22:42 (76th Overall)
Kylie Criner 22:58 (83rd Overall)
Lillian Davison 23:35 (98th Overall)
Darby Revis 24:23 (108th Overall)
"The girls continue to improve and ran well today in some tough conditions," said Brooks.
"Our region is arguably the toughest in the state," said Girls Coach Leah Wright. "We are very pleased with the improvement and will work to carry that momentum into next year."
