Blistering weekend from Oxford cross country at Saltillo

Published 2:13 pm Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Oxford’s Walt Johnson is creeping closer and closer to all-time Oxford high school records.

The Charger senior lead the way again this past weekend, as 24 varsity runners set a personal best time over the weekend at the Saltillo Invitational. Even with all the individual feats, it was a loaded and large meet. The Oxford boys finished third overall out of 19 teams in attendance, with the Lady Chargers finishing fourth out of 16 teams.

Walt Johnson, yet again, dominated the meet individually. Running an all-time best of 16 minutes, 2.10 seconds, he won the race by over 40 seconds. Sophomore Luke Johnson finished third with a 16:45.60, also a personal best. With the results, Walt Johnson pulls to within three seconds of Oxford’s all-time school record of 16:00 set by Tristan Orman.

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Another Charger sophomore, Matthew Singletary, also finished in the top-20, recording a personal-best 17:36.30 to finish in 16th place. Fifteen other Oxford boys set personal bests in the race, an all-around fast course for all involved.

On the Lady Charger side, it was sophomore Beckham McCord leading the way again. Her 22:43.30 was one of six girls to run personal bests on the day, with the scoring five from the unit all landing between 34th and 55th overall.

After just three meets now, the team is rounding into form. They travel this weekend to the South Pontotoc Invite for the first of two races in the area in three weeks. As the weather cools down heading into late October, the team – and specifically Walt Johnson – should be in form to take a legitimate run at all-time OHS records.