Ruston High wraps up cross country season in top 10

The cross country season has come to a close for the Ruston Bearcats, with the program getting some encouraging finishes at the LHSAA State Cross Country Championships Monday in Natchitoches.

The boys squad finished in 4th place with 118 points, with senior Thomas Rogers leading the way with a 7th place finish at 15:13.97 in the three-mile. Meanwhile, the girls team finished 6th in the overall standings with 203 points, with Parker Nations leading the squad in 9th place in 18:43.50.

Among the other top-50 finishers for the Bearcats, Landon Byrd finished in 23rd place in 15:58.97, along with Taylor Roller ( 27th, 16:06.64), Tyler Roller (33rd, 16:20.80), Joshua Daulton (36th, 16:26.55), and Al- Amin Wilson (44th, 16:36).

Over with the girls team, Zoie Holstead finished 39th in 20:09.20, while Hallie Hebert finished 52nd in 20:37.7.

St. Joseph’s Academy won the Division I girls state championship with 51 points, while Jesuit took home the Division I boys title with 27 points.

“Starting with the girls, we were super happy with how it all transpired,” Ruston cross country coach Dustin Cochran said. “ We only had six of them make it through the season healthy and finish and we honestly beat a lot of teams that can roll out 15 or 20 on their roster. At the be-ginning of season, we were thinking whether they could even make state and then when we got there I told them going into it and if we do these things we can get as high as 4th or 5th so I’m happy with it.

“The boys ran hard as well,” he added. “We knew going in there were about five teams that were really good and could finish around us and I thought we could maybe finish top five and we did. Really excited about all of them and all of the sophomores we had to rely on this year. I think for them, they got to see how competitive the state meet is and how big the experience is and how dense the competition is.”

Cochran shared his appreciation for Rogers, a departing senior, who made history for the Bearcats at the state meet.

“Since the program began in the 80s, there’s only been a couple guys that have finished All-State three times and Thomas joined that club (Monday) and that’s big time for him. I think speaks volumes to the work he’s put in here,” Cochran said. “You look at the top 10 yesterday and nine of them are from New Orleans and then there’s him. I told him the other day he was the driving force this year and for all these sophomore kids he asked to run with them and brought them along and he really helped lay a foundation that has set this program up for success going forward.”