The young Goshen High School cross country team competed in their third meet of the season last week in Opp.

The three runners brought to the meet each improved their time and finished near the top of their age group.

“We have a really young team,” said Eagles head coach Mallory Rhodes. “We had three athletes. Two of them in the seventh grade and one in the ninth grade. The two seventh graders had never done it before. We went to a meet we have never been to before. They did really well in an evening race after school. I was really impressed.”

The Eagles’ lone ninth grader Brady Singleton finished as the fourth ninth-grader to cross the finish line with a time of 21:55:18. Abigail Ellerman was the first seventh-grade female to cross the finish line with a time of 29:27:54 and Tyler McLendon was the third seventh-grade boy to to finish with a time of 22:03:51.

“They are continuing to grow,” Rhodes said. “They are continuing to go faster.

Tyler McLendon has shaved nearly three minutes off his time from the start of the season. Singleton has shaved off between two and four minutes, while Ellerman cut her time by about two and a half minutes.

Tessa Sewell, who did not compete in Opp, has also shaved off some time.

“They have shaved off a lot of time during practice,” Rhodes said. “We have a great environment. They really push each other to do their best.”

The Eagles currently have four runners on their roster. A goal of Rhodes is to add more runners so they can compete as a team in addition to individually.

“In order to be counted as a team, we have to have five boys and five girls,” Rhodes said. “My goal for next year is for us to grow and be able to have team awards.”

Goshen’s next meet will be this Saturday in Grady. Sectionals will take place on October 31 and all four Eagle runners will run for a chance to compete at the state meet.

“We have to continue to train outside of school,” Rhodes said. “Right now, we are running about 3.7 miles in the afternoons two days a week.”