Regents cross country claims MAIS Class 2A championship

Published 3:46 pm Monday, October 31, 2022

The Regents cross country team claimed the MAIS Class 2A state championship on both the boys’ and girls’ side for the second consecutive season last week.

The Lions secured their fourth consecutive state title on the boys’ side, finishing with 16 points in a strong team effort.

They placed six runners in the top 10, including four in the top five as sophomore Samuel Bryan, Tristan Bryan, James Edwards and senior Jayden Maten finished second through fifth behind Heritage Academy’s Dallas Stricker.

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Junior Jude Wood and freshman Ben Fuller also finished in the top 10, coming in at No. 7 and No. 8, respectively. Sophomore Aidan Nix finished just outside the top 10 at No. 11.

Athletic director and head coach Brandon Beckett said he was proud of the way his team worked to achieve their goals this season.

“A primary goal for our teams each season is to compete at the top of our classification. Both the boys and the girls teams are reaching these goals consistently,” Beckett said. “Our boys team is a few years older than the girls, and I challenged them a few years ago to compete at the top of all MAIS schools, regardless of classification. Over the last two seasons, they have done that.”

The Lady Lions also claimed back-to-back state titles, claiming half of the spots in the top 10 to finish with an impressive 23 points.

Mary Charles Beckett finished first in the event to win the individual state championship. The seventh grader finished with a time of 23:31.29, a full minute and 25 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

Sixth grader Cora Stearns, eighth grader Anna Turner, sixth grader Caroline Turner and sophomore Lillian Graves also finished in the top 10, placing fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.

Eighth grader Grafton Graeber, seventh grader Pierce Randall and sixth grader Chloe Liebenberg finished just outside the top 10, coming in at No. 11, No. 13 and No. 14, respectively.

Beckett said his team’s performance in tough meets against larger public and private schools this season gave them confidence heading into the state meet.

“Both of our teams had a very successful season. We mostly ran in meets with larger public and private schools. The competition pushes us and we competed very well in those meets, with a few top-three team finishes,” Beckett said. “I am really proud of our girls team. Some of them have battled injuries and most of them have been trying to balance playing multiple sports this fall.”