By MICHAEL CHILDERS, CJ Correspondent
Commonwealth Journal
Somerset —
If you were wearing maroon and white on Saturday morning, odds are, you had a pretty successful day. In the third annual Roll Back the Entry Fee Invitational at GE Field, the maroon and white of Pulaski County grabbed first-place in the team standings of five of the six races held on Saturday.
Four local runners — Jimmy Goldson, Matthew Crawford, Alyssa Hyden, and Matthew Jones - finished first in the individual standings in their respective races.
The Maroons, coached by Byron Childers, finished first in the varsity boys team standings with 18 points. Sister school Southwestern was Pulaski’s nearest opponent with 58 points, 40 points behind the Maroons. The Somerset Briar Jumpers finished third behind the Warriors with 65 points.
Pulaski’s Jimmy Goldson, one of the top freshman runners in the state, grabbed first place in the varsity boys race (3200m) with a clocking of 11:03, three seconds ahead of Maroon teammate Brandon Smiley. The Maroons took five of the first six spots in the race. Austin Hyden, Michael Eads, and Mason Stevens rounded out the winning Pulaski squad, finishing fourth through sixth, respectively.
Goldson was excited about the win, along with the way his team ran as a whole.
“It felt good to win,” stated Goldson. “I really didn’t have a race strategy - my coach just told me to go out and run, and have fun.”
“We almost had a perfect race, which shows how good we are overall as a team. We were missing one of our best runners, Mason Blevins, who would have competed for the win also.”
According to Goldson, the season looks bright for the maroon and white.
“Personally, I think we are going to have a great season,” the race winner explained. “We should have five runners in the seventeen’s or below this year. We are hoping for a top five finish at state. We just need to keep up the hard work and get all of our guys back to full health.”
The Pulaski boys head coach was pleased with his team’s well-rounded victory.
“Jimmy Goldson ran an outstanding race,” expressed Childers. “He’s had a nagging injury, but he ran really well coming back from that.”
“I was proud of all of them. Brandon Smiley did his thing, and Michael Eads ran well, considering he’s had some trouble with his knee. Austin Hyden ran the best race he has ever ran, and when he runs well, so does our team.”
Somerset’s Austin Adams kept Pulaski from getting a perfect 15 points, as the junior finished third with a time of 11:11. Jon Claude Burlew rounded out the top ten with a time of 12:03.
Southwestern had two runners crack the top ten: Michael Tounge (7th) and Jacob Miller (9th).
In the girls varsity race, the Lady Maroons edged out the Lady Warriors by seven points at 39-32, to take home the first-place trophy.
Region 7 AAA favorite Alex Bunch, of Lincoln County, won the race with a mark of 13:34. Somerset’s Lauren Cornett clocked in at 13:41, good enough for second place. Emily Belwood finished third, while Paige Ingram led the way for Pulaski with a fourth place finish.
Lady Maroon head coach Mandy Jones was extremely happy with the way her team ran together on Saturday.
“I was very excited and proud of my team’s performance today,” began Jones. “They ran together as a team, they haven’t ran like that since the Regional meet last year. They packed it in and ran exactly the way they needed to. I was very, very proud of them.”
“To be successful this year, that’s what we have to do, to keep them all packed together and run as a team.”
The only Pulaski team not to win on the day came in the middle school boys race, as the Warriors took home first place honors.
Pulaski’s Matthew Crawford finished first in the race with a time of 11:16. Spencer Brainard led the way for winning Warriors with a time of 11:40.
The Lady Maroons middle school team won the girls team title with a perfect 15 points. Casey County’s Kelsey Arthur won the race in a time of 13:52. However, the Lady Maroons had four runner grab the next four positions to round out the top five - Sydney New, Allie Stevens, Molly Smith, and Allison Kerns.
Pulaski’s Alyssa Hyden won the elementary girls race, helping her team win the team title with 39 points, ten point ahead of second-place Clinton County. The Lady Warriors finished one point out of second with 49, good enough for third place. The Lady Jumpers took fourth place with 95 points.
Matthew Jones, a fourth-grader, continued his dominance at GE Field by winning the elementary boys race. Pulaski beat Southwestern 35 to 38 to take the first position.
