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The Alice Lloyd Eagles Cross Country team journeyed to Grayson, KY on Friday, October 26th, to participate in the Kentucky Christian University “Late Knight Run.” This would be the club’s final tune-up before the conference meet.

In the women’s race, 37 women from seven schools toed the starting line for the 5K. Lady Eagle Allison Holbrook, who has been suffering from an injury for the past month, fought through the soreness to have a strong showing. The freshman from Leslie County completed the course in 21:55. Her time was good enough for 13th place overall.

Greg Randolph

On the men’s side, 35 runners from seven colleges left with the starting gun. Eagle Greg Randolph continued to impress as the freshman from London, KY ran a courageous race. Randolph stayed with the leaders the entire way, and he finished the 8K in a new school record time of 27:35. (This broke the old mark by 1:42.) His time placed him third overall in the final standings.

Sophomore Jimmy Noble (Buckhorn) ran well once more as he finished in 18th place with a time of 30:47. Noble continues to improve with every race. Harlan native Blane Grubbs pushed himself the entire way and fought to a 31:50 finishing time. His effort was good enough for 24th place.

Also putting in gritty efforts were sophomore Caleb Lofton (Manchester, OH) and Belfry native Jonathan Aldana. Both showed solid improvement as they crossed the line in 37:33 and 41:09, respectively.

The Eagles were running without the services of Ethan Bowling (Jenkins). Bowling, who has been a hard-working and dependable runner, suffered a season-ending knee injury in practice. The good news is that the freshman is expected to make a full recovery and will return next season.

“I felt that this race was a good tune-up before the conference meet next weekend,” said Eagles coach Gary D. Stepp. “The runners all demonstrated solid improvement, and each one of them responded with a new personal record. I believe that we will be ready to perform at our best when we need it the most.” 

When asked about the record performance of Randolph, his coach replied, “Greg just continues to impress. He has had an excellent season thus far and really is driven to improve. I believe he has a chance to lower his time even more next week if conditions are favorable, and I think he has incredible potential.”

The Eagles travel to Richmond, Indiana on November 3rd to compete in the KIAC Conference Championship. The women race at 11 AM while the men follow at noon.