The Flour Bluff Cross-Country team had a strong start to kick off their 2019 season in the IWA Angel “Flight” Cross-Country Invitational this past Saturday.

Freshman Isaac Stoffer led the way for the JV Boys team second place finish by finishing on top of all competitors with a time of 8:45. AJ Warren, a sophomore, finished 5th at 9:07. Rounding out the rest of the JV Boys division was sophomore Ashton Baker (10:09), senior Jacob Scanlan (10:20), freshman Joseph Fuller (10:42), freshman Mason Aggus (11:17), senior Keane Uhl (11:38) and freshman Henry Janson (14:16).

In the sub-varsity Girls division. Freshman Megan Maw was first across the finish line with a time of 6:50, helping her team tie the host school IWA for 1st place with 43 points. Also finishing in the top 10 was Sophomore Tianna Donaldson edging out teammate Junior Emily Gaskins with a time of 7:16.28 and 7:16.62 respectively. Supporting the rest of the JV Girls team was Yasmin Nunez (7:39), Jeana Pshigoda (7:55), Katelyn Potts (8:17), and Emily Howard (8:38).

Sophomore Aust Messaoui led the boys Varsity team to a 2nd place overall team score of 52 points. Austin recorded a 3rd place finish in his 1.52 mile flight with a time of 8:23. Senior Derek Steinbruck held the second spot on the varsity squad, finishing with a time of 9:04 to take 4th place in his flight. Sophomore Luke Ewing (9:23), senior Gabriel Lobato (9:29) and sophomore Elijah Cantu (9:35) took the next three spots, all finishing 3rd in their respective flights. Finishing in the last two slots were freshman Joseph Thompson (10:00) and senior Michael Matchett (11:41).

On the Varsity Girls side it was sophomore Rayanna Flores who held off challenging IWA to give the Flour Bluff girls the team championship with a score of 61, only 1 point ahead of IWA’s 60. Just two points ahead of IWA going into the final flight, Rayanna held back all but one to finish 2nd in her flight with a time of 6:25 and securing the team victory. Sophomore Isabella Bertero had an overall 4th place finish, placing 2nd in her flight with a time of 6:31. Junior Alicia Flores and Sophomore Paige Aguilar both finished 3rd in the flights with times of 6:49 and 7:16 respectively. Senior Hannah Janson easily won her flight with a time of 6:49, finishing over 20 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. Finishing in the last two spots on the team were Junior Mia Dobbins (7:15) and freshman Mary Ritchie (7:27).

The Flour Bluff Cross-Country team will be at West Guth Park next Saturday, August 24 for the Moody Trojan Cross-Country Invitational meet.