ELGIN – Three Elgin cross country runners finished in the top 15 as the Owls won the Cameron Invitational last Saturday.
Hunter Monostori finished second with a time of 16:47 while teammates Jordan Pierce and Alan Lares crossed the finish line in ninth and 15th, respectively. Pierce had a 5K time of 17:26 while Lares finished with a time of 18:03.
“We were impressed that all of our runners had personal best times,” Elgin coach Jon Hughes said. “The JV and varsity ran together, and we had some JV guys who ran impressive times.”
Elgin’s Jake Jones finished 27th with a time of 18:45 while teammate Jake Jones was 28th with a time of 18:46. The top five runners from each team provide the overall score based on how they placed. Elgin ended with 67 points. Second place Newcastle had 84 points.
Elgin is currently ranked No. 6 in Class 5A and the ultimate goal is a top five finish at the state meet.
“Realistically, you have Piedmont, Guymon, Bishop Kelley, Coweta and then us. There’s an outside shot of catching Coweta or Bishop Kelley. Barring some injury or something crazy, we’ll be at the state meet,” Hughes said.
Hughes was impressed that all varsity runners dropped their times for the second meet in a row.
“Our morale is up, the work ethic is up, and they worked as hard this week as they would have on a meet week,” Hughes said.
Elgin had this week off and did not compete in a meet. The team has five meets remaining before the 5A regional competition.
Other Elgin runners who ran in the Cameron Invitational included Tristen Nunez who was 48th at 19:28 and Knalu Brazile was 51st at 19:39. Christian Reed finished 63rd with a time of 20:04, Noah Bronkema was 64th with a time of 20:06, Tristan Meeker was 81st with a time of 21:00 and Lane Neff was 91st with a time of 21:40.
The Owls will compete Saturday, Sept. 24 at the Edmond Pre-State Meet and then run in the Newcastle meet on Sept. 30. Elgin heads to Shawnee on Oct. 6 for the OBU Bison Challenge followed by the Suburban Conference competition at Carl Albert Middle School on Tuesday, Oct. 11.