Richland and Rock Hill cross country programs secured team championships at distinct competitions on Sept. 4, as local squads prepared for upcoming district and state qualifying races.
At the TCU John McKenzie Invitational held at Fort Worth’s Athletic Performance Ranch, Richland swept both the boys and girls divisions. The Lady Raiders achieved a near-perfect score by placing their first five finishers within the top seven of the field, totaling 23 points. Junior Gemma Adimora finished second with a time of 21:09.51, followed by sophomore Diya Balamurugan in third at 21:09.53.
Sophomores Ari Hernandez, Kruthi Alavalapati, and Cameron Shelton rounded out the top seven in fifth, sixth, and seventh place respectively.
The Richland boys team also claimed first place with 59 points, placing all of their top five runners inside the race’s first 20. Junior Saatvik Pullela led the group with a runner-up time of 17:26.25. Seniors Braden Beaumont and Ethan Schultz finished 11th and 14th, while sophomore Andrew Horak and senior Argun Venkatakrishnan placed 17th and 19th.
Thirty miles east at the Mansfield Sports Complex for the Lake Ridge XC Invitational, Rock Hill’s Blue Hawks dominated their division with 26 points. Five runners finished in the top eight, led by senior Ryan Gerard’s second-place time of 16:17.07. Seniors Matteo De Leon and Haamid Farhan took fourth and fifth places, while junior Alexander Koczan and sophomore Saul Loeza placed seventh and eighth.
The Lady Blue Hawks finished second overall with 34 points, just one point behind host Lake Ridge. Sophomores Natalie Callahan and Sheryl Patel secured second and third places with times of 20:15.27 and 20:47.10. Junior Sahana Tyagi and senior Abigail Bodily added ninth and 11th place finishes.