PARIS – The 2018 cross country season got started on Saturday for many and the Mason County Lady Royals were able to earn a first-place finish in their first meet of the year.

The Lady Royals and Paige Decker claimed top honors as Mason County beat the 10-team field by eight points over second-place Conner, while Decker came away with a convincing victory in the individual results.

Decker led the top five of the Lady Royals, finishing in a time of 19:51, tops out of 93 runners by over 30 seconds, a personal record for her and her first varsity win, according to coach Mark Kachler.

In order to claim the team honors, following Decker was Alyssa Bisotti in ninth with a time of 21:45, Elizabeth Lavinder in 10th at 21:46, Hadley Faris in 11th at 21:48 and Layla Henderson in 25th at 23:04.

The youth comes through again for Mason County with three middle schoolers (Decker, Lavinder and Henderson), a freshman (Bisotti) and a sophomore (Faris) leading the way.

The Lady Royals had 50 points, Cooper with 58 and Bourbon County in third with 62.

Mason County sent 12 runners to the meet. Outside of the top five were Alexis Decker (35th, 24:04), Olivia O’Hearn (43rd, 24:37), Morgan Carpenter (49th, 25:02), Abi Dawson (63rd, 25:59), Hadley Maher (66th, 26:37), Kyndal Dotson (69th, 26:47) and Maggie Henderson (87th, 30:12).

Bracken County also competed, but didn’t field a full team. They were led by Macie Sharp in 38th with a time of 24:20. Following Sharp was Gracie Ramsey (48th, 25:02), Holly Ebert (59th, 25:53) and Joy Ebert (80th, 28:21).

In the boys’ race, Bracken County got solid individual finishes from Brandon Cox in second and Jared Jefferson in sixth. Cox’s second-place finish came in a time of 17:19, 12 seconds off from first-place finisher James Wireman from Scott County with 104 runners competing. Jefferson finished in a time of 17:35 as the Polar Bears finished the meet seventh place as a team with 165 points.

Scott County won the boys’ team title too with 54 points, followed by Williamstown in second with 89 points and Cooper in third with 119.

Following Cox and Jefferson on the Polar Bears were Collin Jefferson (40th, 19:50), Damon Bryant (63rd, 20:53) and Jarrod Woods (65th, 20:59). Andrew Carrigan (71st, 21:39) and Daniel Simons (74th, 21:56) also competed for the Polar Bears.

The Royals finished in 11th out of the 12 team field with 227 points. Leading the Royals was Isaiah Riggs in 17th with a time of 18:35. He was followed by Carson Adams (26th, 19:01), Nicholas Drury (46th, 20:09), Matthew Dodge (77th, 22:23) and Tyler Thompson (88th, 24:38).

St. Patrick’s Paco and Willie Franco along with Marvin Koch competed as individuals for the Saints.

Paco Franco led the team, placing 27th in a time of 19:06, followed by younger brother Willie (53rd, 20:31) and Koch (64th, 20:58).

Fleming County also sent three runners individually with Cody Kissell leading the Panthers with a 79th place finish in a time of 22:40. He was followed by Ezekiel Carrerra-Vebber (102nd, 30:19) and Calvin DeHart (104th, 40:48).

The Mason County girls’ cross country team got the season started off on the right foot with a first-place finish at the Bourbon County Charge, Saturday, in Paris.
https://maysville-online.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/web1_cross-country-1.jpgThe Mason County girls’ cross country team got the season started off on the right foot with a first-place finish at the Bourbon County Charge, Saturday, in Paris.

EVAN DENNISON

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