Both of Blythewood’s cross country teams’ seasons came to an end Saturday at the Mid-State qualifier. The boys finished in eighth place but needed a seventh-place finished to qualify for State. They ended up just two points shy of qualifying. Despite not reaching the team goal, Blythewood head coach Patrick Kelly is proud of his team’s progression throughout the year.
“The team’s performance continued a season-long trend of steady improvement,” Kelly said.
Blythewood junior Mike Lantz finished third overall with a time of 15:53 and earned a spot as an individual at the State Meet this Saturday.
“Mike (Lantz) is well deserving to advance to the state meet,” Kelly said. “He turned in an exceptional showing”
Lantz’s time was an improvement of a few seconds on his time when he won the region championship.
Other top runners for the Bengals included T.J. Kirby (35th-17:35), Thomas Whiddon (36th-17:45) and Trent Hancock (56th-18:26).
The girls’ team finished 12th out of 15 teams at the Mid-State qualifier. The lead runner for the Lady Bengals was Caroline Hitchner (21:59). Even though they didn’t reach the State Meet, head coach Mike Mauldin was pleased with his team’s development.
“The ladies improved tremendously during the season,” Mauldin said. “With this experience we should have an outstanding season in 2013.”
