SJA's GRACE RENNHOFF HEADS TO THE FINISH LINE AT THE OPENER
Embarrassment of riches.
That is the only way to describe the talent and depth of a St. Joseph's Academy cross country program which has won eight of the last nine state championships under head coach Mark LaHaye.
How stacked are the Stickers?
Just look at the results from their season opener at The Opener yesterday in Clinton, Mississippi. LHSAA Division I defending state champion Hannah Vaughan was the team's No. 4 runner.
After struggling to return from injury last year, senior Grace Rennhoff is healthy and SJA's No. 1 runner--at least that was the case on yesterday when Rennhoff took home the individual title with a 5K time of 18:56.
Other SJA runners in the top ten included Michelle Daigle (No. 2, 19:16), Elise Brown (No. 4, 19:41), Vaughan (No. 6, 19:49), and Kaitlyn Franchise (No. 9, 20:08).
St. Joseph's scored 22 points. Ruston, led by Parker Nations (No. 10, 20:40), was a distant second with 116 points.
Ruston also finished second in the boys' division, but the race for the team title was much closer.
The Bearcats were led sophomore Taylor Roller, who won top individual honors with his time of 15:57.
Other Bearcats in the top 25 included Thomas Rogers, (No. 3, 16:06), Landon Byrd (No. 4, 16:27), and Liam Lowe (No. 21; 17:35).
"On the boys side, there are so many new kids who are trying to become contributors for the first time, or it's their first time running, and a lot of those guys came away with personal records," Ruston head coach Dustin Cochran said. "Taylor Roller and Landon Byrd followed their race plan to a T, and showed great maturity out there. Those two, along with Thomas (Rogers) give us a nice punch at the top. If we can bring No. 4 and No. 5 down, we can be pretty good in November and that's obviously the goal. I think we will be able to do that."
Despite the strong, season-opening performance by the Bearcats, it was not enough to take home top team honors. Pearl High School was the winner in the boys' division with a score of 37 points. Pearl was led by Farren Oberto, who finished second with a time of 16:03.