Last Tuesday was a successful and historic day for the East Jackson cross-country teams.
Not only did both the boys’ and girls’ teams win their meets, but the boys also recorded a perfect score, the first in school history.
The boys defeated Cedar Shoals, Banks County, Riverside Military Academy, Jackson County and Commerce in the meet.
Out of 101 runners in competition, East Jackson’s Kevin Kesler placed first with a school record time of 17:48; Brandon Banks placed second with a personal best time of 18:21; Terry Miller finished third with a personal best time of 18:23; Josh Kesler finished fourth with a personal best time of 18:24, and Eric Van Deventer finished fifth with a personal best time of 18:28.
Andy Van Deventer placed tenth with an 18:51.
Other finishes included Chris White at 19:28; Blake Allbright at 19:39; Kyle Wood at 21:06; Edward Stone at 21:14; John Kesler at 21:28; Jonathan Mead at 20:43; Stuart Robinett at 21:30; Josh Carney at 21:47; Wesley Guthrie at 22:17); Adrian Woodruff at 22:19; Charles Hulett at 22:21; Zak Venable at 22:36; Kent Edward at 24:00; Kevin Parks at 24:01; Connor Slokosly at 24:06; Joseph Cook at 24:07; Ryan Crawford at 24:23; and Lule Derochers at 24:45.
Many of those times were also personal bests.
The girls came out on top of four other teams, including Jackson County, Cedar Shoals, Banks County and Commerce.
Sherri Blalock placed second out of 43 runners with a new East Jackson record time of 20:53; Kassie Mull placed third with a personal best time of 22:21; Hope Boggs placed fifth with a personal best time of 23:03; Amanda Anderson placed seventh with a personal best time of 23:25, and Skyler Cozzens placed tenth with a personal best time of 23:58.
Other finishers included Dakota Chandler at 24:39; Alexis Powell at 25:34; Courtney Clark at 26:53; Brittany Blackwell at 27:38; and Aubrey Cozzens at 27:56.
