Highland Cross Country

Highland Cross-Country team hosted their 9th Annual Cougar Charge Cross Country Invitational at the River Valley Golf Club in Canton on Sept. 10. Highland’s coaches complimented River Valley’s staff for the hospitality shown to the Cougars Cross Country team during the setup and the day of the meet. Coach French said, “The River Valley Golf Course is a beautiful venue and provides for a challenging course layout. I want to give a special thanks to Jake De Coster for driving the lead cart in all the races, but I also want to thank the parents, students, my assistant coaches, Ben Bueining, my wife, and the rest of the Highland staff that helped make this event possible.”
Highland started their season off with a bang. Freshman A.J. Caudill medaled in the Varsity Girl’s race, finishing 12th overall with a time of 26:13.4 on the 5k course. In the Varsity Boy’s race, Highland Junior, Nathan Caudill, medaled in 10th place overall with a time of 19:48, which was 2 minutes and 40 seconds faster than his times on the same course in previous years. Tyler Seals finished in 29th place and Gary Wright finished in 40th place.  In the JH Girl’s race, Hannah Goings was the only Highland Runner and she finished in 30th place. The Highland J.H. Boys finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd with Logan Frieden winning the race with a 13:13. Connor Zulauf was 2nd and Evan Frieden was 3rd. Coach French said, “It was a great race to start the season – I am so proud of each of our runners.”
September 14, the Cougars traveled to the Palmyra Invitational. In the Varsity Boy’s race, Nathan Caudill was Highland’s top runner again finishing in 26th place, improving his time from previous years. Senior Gary Wright (75th) improved his time 2 minutes from the previous year. Tyler Seals participated in Highland Trap event earlier and competed in the Cross-Country and finished in 77th. The Varsity Girls race featured Sophomore Eva Logsdon running her first cross country race ever. Eva finished in 18th place with a 26:12. Freshman A.J. Caudill finished 28th overall. For the JH Girls, Isabelle Richardson was Highland’s top finisher and Hannah Goings finished with improvement from her first race. The JH Boy’s featured another stellar performance by Highland’s three team members. Logan Frieden finished 2nd overall, Connor Zulauf finished 3rd, and Evan Frieden finished 5th overall. Coach French said, “The Junior High boys finished within 13 seconds of each other and all three medaled in the top 5 again. We also saw some great improvement and excellent races from the rest of the team. I think we are going to have an exciting year.” 
The team worked the BINGO stand at the Lewistown Appreciation Days and fundraised over $180. They appreciate the opportunity, the organizers and the bingo players.