Baylor Cross Country turned in a strong weekend of racing across two meets, highlighted by a meet-record victory from Addy Cotter and a pair of top-20 finishes from Cash Carlson and Brecken McKenna at the ON Twilight Invitational in Huntsville.
Baylor's varsity squads traveled to the ON Twilight Invitational at PR'Ville, one of the largest cross country meets in the Southeast, while the Red Raiders' JV teams competed at the McCallie Invitational at MacDonald Farm in Sale Creek.
Cotter delivered a record-setting performance for the Baylor women, racing to the individual championship in a meet-record time of 17:25. The performance also gives Cotter the fastest girls cross country time in Tennessee this season.
Behind Cotter, Tegan Lewis and Gracey Weekley turned in strong performances for the Red Raiders, while Sally Frost and Mabry Rogers each recorded significant personal bests to round out Baylor's scoring.
On the boys side, Baylor put together an impressive team effort against a field featuring programs from across the region.
The Red Raiders worked together as a pack and continued moving through the field throughout the race, eventually finishing sixth among 37 teams representing 10 states.
Senior Cash Carlson led the charge with an outstanding closing mile. Carlson passed 10 runners over the final mile to finish ninth overall out of 334 competitors in the Championship Division.
Carlson crossed the finish line in a personal-best 15:27, a performance that moves him to No. 6 in Tennessee this season and earned him a nomination for Tennessee Runner of the Week.
Baylor wasn't finished in the top 20.
Brecken McKenna followed with another outstanding performance, crossing the line in 15:34 to earn a top-20 finish and give the Red Raiders two runners among the meet's top 20.
Harrison Stroud finished in 15:47, while freshman Ford Vaughan and sophomore Simon Fowler completed Baylor's scoring five.
While the varsity teams were competing in Huntsville, Baylor's JV runners enjoyed a banner morning at the McCallie Invitational at MacDonald Farm.
Taking advantage of cool racing conditions, Baylor's young runners produced a number of personal-best performances.
Benji Perry led the Baylor boys to a runner-up team finish while recording a 44-second personal best. In all, five Baylor boys established new personal bests during the meet.
The Baylor girls also raced to a runner-up team finish. Rivky Strauss led the way, cracking the individual top 10 while also setting a personal best.
From Cotter's record-setting victory to Carlson and McKenna placing among the top runners in a loaded championship field, along with two JV runner-up team finishes and a collection of personal bests, it was another impressive weekend for Baylor Cross Country.
Go Big Red!
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