Wildcat runners open season in Mount Vernon

The cross-country season opened up for one area team on Tuesday afternoon, as the Columbus Wildcats traveled to a big meet at Mount Vernon.

The Wildcats were the lone 1A competitor at the big-school meet, but head coach Steve Riley was happy with the effort his teams gave.

?This was a great effort,? Riley said. ?The boys gave us a taste of the great balance and depth they are going to have this season. We?re just going to get better. These kids are further ahead than they were last year.?

The Wildcat boys took 11th place as a team in the meet, led by junior Marc Estrada, who took 57th place overall.

He was followed by Hunter Humiston, who took 64th with a 20:56, while Armandon Quiroz finished in 69th, James Rivera took 70th and Erick Cantarerro finished in 72nd.

Only 58 seconds separated the top five Columbus runners in the meet.

Chepo Cardena took 80th in the meet, while J.D. Lekwa finished in 82nd, rounding out the top seven for the Wildcats.

On the girls? side of the meet, the Wildcats were unable to field a full team, but were led by Janessa Carpenter, who took 49th overall with a time of 23:30.

?I was really happy with Jenessa, who will be one of the top girls in our conference this year,? Riley said. ?She dropped over two minutes from her time from last year on this course.?

The girls also saw Aubrey Duncan take 122nd, Martha Garcia place in 211th and Nayeli Martinez finish in 238th.

For eight of the 17 runners who took the course on Tuesday, eight were running in their first race.