The season is still early, but Bridgeport’s boys’ and girls’ cross country teams have started out of the gate strong. In particular, the boys are making noise at several of the big meets and this past Saturday was no different.

 

The boys for the Indians won the Chick-fil-A Invitational in Mineral Wells with a score of 82. The total was enough to hold off a spirited challenge by Fairmont Senior with 92 points to finish second in the field of 26 full teams.

 

For the girls, a third-place finish was in order. The Tribe amassed 125 points to trail Winfield (76) and Williamstown (86) in the field that consisted of 21 full teams.

 

“The boys had an outstanding day overall.  The course and weather conditions were excellent, the competition was good, and the boys gave great effort.  We had lots and lots of personal records and we now have seven current team members in our Bridgeport High School top 25 all-time best performance list.  Four of those are in the top ten on that list.  Both varsity and junior varsity looked very good,” said Coach Jon Griffith.

 

Bridgeport was once again led by the duo of Jackson Jacobs and Cade Robinson. Jacobs finished fifth with a time of 16 minutes, 14.1 seconds, while Robinson was seventh with a time of 16 minutes, 30.2 seconds.  

 

“I think, barring injury, they should be able to stay ahead of their teammates, but it's not a given,” said Griffith. “The rest of the boys are working very hard and improving every day.  They want to get up there with Jackson and Cade and I am hopeful that they can keep moving in that direction.”

 

The Indians finished with four runners in the top 20. Bailey Demoss was in 16^th (16:47.8), Trey Martin was in 19^th (16:54.6)

 

“We did have four in the top 20 and our number five (Landon Burns), six (Cole Bracken) and seven (Brennan Cropp) came in at 35th, 37th and 49th out of 194 runners.  That’s not too bad,” said Griffith. “We need them to move up closer to our number three (Bailey DeMoss) and four (Trey Martin).” 

 

Griffith was also pleased with the showing by his girls. The third-place finish in a field that had 21 full teams and 31 schools represented, he believes, was solid.

 

“The girls also had an outstanding set of races.  To finish 3rd out of 31 teams is impressive, especially considering the ‘AAA’ teams and Ohio schools that were part of the competition,” said Griffith. “The girls now have six current team members on our top 25 all-time best performance list and five of those are in the top 10.  Just like the boys, we saw some great performances both with the varsity and the junior varsity girls.”

 

Emerson Grafton again led the way. She finished fifth with a time of 19 minutes, 56.2 seconds.

 

“Emerson finally broke in the 19’s at 19:56.2.  That puts her fourth on the all-time list.  Only four girls in school history have gone under 20 minutes; Morganne Phillips, Julia Muller, Erika Voreh and now Emerson Grafton,” said Griffith. “That is some pretty good company and she has a lot of room to improve. 

 

The Tribe ended with three more runners in the top 30. Madison Looker (18^th, 21:01.1), Allison Hess (21^st, 21:11.8), and Brooke Wagner (28^th, 21:24.5) all turned the trick. The next closest finisher was Kaitlin Pappas in 58^th (22:29.3), while Emma Campbell ran in her first race of the season.

 

Bridgeport will host the Charles Pointe-Indian Run Invitational Saturday.  

 

Editor's Note: Photos from the Chick-fil-A event from the Bridgeport Track Facebook page.