Kosciusko High School junior Jorge Orduna just keeps getting better and better. One week after setting a school cross country record, he did it again.
He first set the record at Choctaw Trails, then bettered it by 20 seconds, finishing fourth out of 102 runners at the French Camp Classic Saturday with a time of 17:38 for 5,000 meters. That was one second behind third-place finisher Robert Hooper of Tupelo and six-tenths of a second better than Tupelo's Bryce Weaver.
Orduna led Kosciusko to a fifth-place finish. He was followed by Cole Wilson, who finished 41st, Lem Whitcomb 45th, Cooper Sparks 54th, Christian Covarrubias Christian 57th, Grayson Blaylock 60th, Rodrigo Arvizu 86th and Tuff Shaw 96th. Times for Wilson — 21:10 — and Whitcomb — 21:35 — are personal bests.
The Whippets were without their number two runner, Daniel Van, who was ill and did not run Saturday.
Tupelo also had the first two runners – Jaheim Bridges in 16:27 and Taylor Brown 16:29 – and won the team title with a score of 21. Choctaw Central was second with 60, Neshoba Central third (82), French Camp fourth (123), and Kosciusko fifth with 133.
Emma Rhodes, Kosciusko's only runner in the girls’ race, was 22nd of 100 with a time of 24:14.
French Camp edged Tupelo 27-28 for the team title. Each team has five runners in the top 10.
Kosciusko competed in the Region 4-4A race Wednesday at Choctaw Trails.
The Middle School Cross Country Classic was held October 19 at Choctaw Trails. Kosciusko had five runners in the girls’ race and two in the boys’ race.
The girls were led by Dianna Hernandez, a seventh grader, with a time of 16:01.04 for 3,000 meters. Other runners were seventh-grader Ryleigh Gove, eighth grader Marlie Kelley, seventh grader Layla Nicholson, and eighth grader Mia Manjarrez.
For the boys, Avery Nicholson was 30th out of 103 runners with a time of 12:12.8 and Colton Thorpe was 76th (14:54.69). Both are eighth graders.
Nicholson moved up to the varsity group for the region meet and the 4A state meet scheduled for November 6 at Choctaw Trails.
