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STAR CORRESPONDENT

Elizabethton senior cross country runner Riley Vernon wants to leave his mark on the sport in this his final year and did just that in the recent Cherokee Classic, where out of 286 runners, Vernon finished ninth overall but in school record time for the 5K as his 16:43 finish was good enough to eclipse the old school record of 16:58 set by Josh Jaynes in the 2004 season.

53 teams were registered for the meet.

Fellow runner Max Garner was just two seconds behind Vernon as the runners led the Cyclones to a second-place finish behind Hardin Valley Academy in the event.

“We knew it was going to be a great challenge for us with all the good teams we were running with,” said Cyclone head coach Matt Campbell. “We had many PRs including Riley breaking the school record.”

Cooper Chinault and Jerry Behrmann also had solid finishes as Chinault crossed the finish line in a time of 17:51, which was good enough for  37th place, while Behrmann’s 18:09 placed him in the 47th position out of 286 competitors.

Other Cyclone runners included Brian Presley (51), Cooper Jack (70), William Snodgrass (77), Jacob Jenkins (131), and Alex Loughner (136).

The Lady Cyclone runners took ninth place with 206 ladies in the event.

Leading the pace was Helen Hackett, whose 38th place finish paced Elizabethton, while Madeline Isaacs crossed the finish line with a time of 22:09 – good for 51st place.

Other Lady Cyclone finishers included Jasey Hyatt (57), Grace Artz (86th), Adrian Heading (106), Ashleigh Hyatt (114), and Amberlin Grindstaff (134).