This past Saturday, three members of the Valley High School cross-country team competed at the state championship meet.
Autumn Templeton, Noah Honea, and James Jones represented the Rams. All three runners performed well. Templeton was up first as the 5A girls' race was very competitive. Templeton finished eighty-eighth out of one hundred and thirty-seven girls with a time of 24:32.63.
A few races later were the 5A boys, but as soon as the boys arrived at the starting line, the rain started to fall. Regardless of the conditions, Rams Noah Honea and James Jones remained tough as Honea finished ninety-fourth out of one hundred and fifty-nine runners with a time of 19:30.35.
Teammate Jones was very close behind as he finished at one hundred and one overall. His time was 19:40.20. All three Rams look to return next season as Templeton and Honea are freshmen. Jones looks to make a third trip for his senior season next year.
Head Coach William Elliott had this to say after the meet,
“I’m proud of how my three came out and competed today. I explained to them that just qualifying for this meet is huge in itself. I do know that Valley has not had a girl qualify for state in a long time. As far as the boys go, JJ is making his second trip, and Noah is his first. It’s just a great time for our runners and our team. That being said, I think that beforehand we were a little nervous. I explained to them that it was just another race. Once we settled in everything was smooth sailing. They did great in my opinion regardless of their finishing position or times. I’m proud of them", said Elliot.
