Dragon Cross Country Hosts Southlake Invitational

Southlake, TX – With the top Southlake Carroll cross country runners taking the weekend off from competition to prepare for next week’s Chile Pepper Festival at the University of Arkansas, the Dragons sent their next tier of runners to toe the line at the Southlake Invitational at Bob Jones Park on Saturday morning.

“Our young men and women ran hard today,” Dragons Head Coach Justin Leonard said. “We’ll be hosting the district meet here in a few weeks, so it was a good opportunity for some of our younger runners to get a feel for what this course is like in live competition.”

In the girls’ varsity elite race, Lucy Pettigrew led the way for the Dragons, finishing 42^nd in 20:13. Lilah Gornell was next (51^st, 20:38), followed by Ryann Flores (55^th, 20:42), Megan Bergman (56^th, 20:43) and Grace Rhoten (73^rd, 21:20).

On the boys’ side, Grant Norgen was the Dragons’ top runner, finishing 45^th in 16:25. He was followed by Adhavan Palanivelrajan (51^st, 16:32), Claudio Auns (58^th, 16:50), Dylan Torres (74^th, 17:22) and Graysen Schick (76^th, 17:27).

In the varsity open races, Grace McIlvain led the girls with a ninth-place finish in 21:27. Haley Badgett finished 19^th (22:03), followed by Emma Whittle (28^th, 22:32), Isabella Di Vincenzo (30^th, 22:34) and Leighton Bowles (31^st, 22:38).

Nikhel Kamalia paced the Dragons in the boys’ race with a time of 18:03, good for a 48^th-place finish. He was followed by Alan Deng (53^rd, 18:18), Armaan Dhillon (63^rd, 18:31), Chase Mader (64^th, 18:32) and Evan O’Donnell (65^th, 18:33).

In JV action, Sophia Adams led the girls with a 37^th-place finish, crossing the line in 24:49. Isabella Galvis was next (43^rd, 25:06), followed by Amelia Greene (45^th, 25:12), Areesha Hassan (51^st, 25:36) and Linley Goldsmith (56^th, 26:45).

On the boys’ side, Kai Speier led the way with a seventh-place finish and a time of 18:12. He was followed by Quentin Gourdon (17^th, 18:51), Arnav Kakarala (26^th, 19:17), Will Price (34^th, 19:35) and German Vivanco (38^th, 19:42).

While the Dragons varsity runners will return to action next Saturday in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the JV teams will compete in the Reunion Run in Decatur.