After days on end of enduring muddy and wet practices, the middle school cross country team finally caught a break and got to run in the sun at the Pocahontas Invitational on Saturday. Under clear skies and a warm autumn sun, the athletes traded the rain for sun, leading to a spectacular day of personal records. Standout performances came from both the girls’ and boys’ teams, as both teams clutched third-place team finishes. Kyler Vote placed 3rd, Roman Pace took 15th, Landon Fors secured 17th, and Nikota Lyons finished 18th. It was a great showing by the boys. For the girls, Ava Eaton led the Jags again, earning 12th out of 68 runners, with teammate Kiley Norine right on her heels in 13th. Eighth-grader Averie Kitchen was back in action, earning 22nd, and Serenity Cunigan and Annie Harris were right behind her in 27th and 28th. Way to go, girls. "Running in the sun feels great," said one seventh-grader, Serenity Cunigan. “It was nice to be able to finally run without worrying about slipping or stepping in a puddle making your shoes soggy.” Overall, 15 personal records were set Saturday from the 19 runners, including a couple of big ones. “When I got my PR, it made me more excited to run in the next meet because now I KNOW I can do it,” said seventh-grader Heaven Cunigan. “By PRing, it makes me more interested in running because it makes me more confident,” added seventh-grader Ruger Skougard. Coaches attributed the surge in speed to both the beautiful weather and the mental toughness built during those miserable rainy practices. With the sun on their backs, the team proved that a little sunshine was all they needed to finish strong. “It was an amazing day to run, and even more amazing to see all of the kids’ hard work pay off. The pride they feel in earning their PRs or seeing the perseverance and grit to keep pushing when they don’t get the PR, those moments are my favorite parts of coaching because we see them grow not just as runners, but as people,” said Coach Peterson. And to add to the great news: Pocahontas will host the conference meet in less than two weeks. Now that the runners have had a positive experience on this course, they can go into the conference meet with nothing but good vibes… and hopefully dry shoes if the sunshine continues. The next meet is tomorrow, October 6, with SCC hosting in Lake City. Jaguars - 3rd place out of 8 teams 1mile 2mile Place Kyler Vote 6:10 11:48 3 Roman Pace 6:35 12:43 15 Landon Fors 6:52 12:47 17 Nikota Lyons 6:35 12:49 18 Nick Albright 8:10 15:23 45 Eli Bird 8:17 15:43 49 Noah Peterson 9:00 17:14 60 Domi Foster 9:01 17:39 62 Ruger Skougard 12:07 23:27 70 71 Runners Jaguars - 3rd place out of 8 teams 1mile 2mile Place Ava Eaton 7:22 14:26 12 Kiley Norine 7:25 14:33 13 Averie Kitchen 7:35 14:57 22 Serenity Cunigan 7:50 15:17 27 Annabelle Harris 7:34 15:25 28 Aleah Judson 8:26 16:26 41 Adley Davis 8:38 16:35 44 Taylor Dorsey 9:06 17:09 49 Heaven Cunigan 9:32 19:07 61 Lexi Waugh 10:47 20:01 66 68 Runners