The Bison Cross Country team were set to compete under the lights at the nationally ranked LaVerne Gibson course at the Nike Twilight in Terre Haute Friday night. Regretfully unable to attend due to a late scheduling conflict with Homecoming, Rensselaer was kind enough to allow us back in to the Big Z Invite held Saturday.
Our boys were first to run, looking to improve on last year’s second place team result. Returning champion from last year, BC’s Carter Fox set a good pace from the start, with Jonah Fleming close behind. The two ran a smart race to drop the rest of the field. Carter kept his title, coming in first at 17:27, and Jonah Fleming tied his all time personal best at 17:48. Matthew McKinnis (11th place in 18:38) and Grady Rudolph (15th place in 19:00) ribboned with their top 20 performances. Though they still came in 2nd, our boys’ team improved to bring their point margin to within 3 points 1st place.
Our girls were also ready to improve over last year when we failed to qualify as a team due to having an insufficient number of runners. We placed 4 in the top 20, with Maddie Peterson’s 2nd place at 21:44 and Loralei Rayman’s 3rd place at 21:57 finishes earning medals. Our other lady runners were Maggie Rayman (7th place in 22:47), CeCe Fisher (16th place in 23:47), and Samiyah Rich with a lifetime personal best in 25:21. Our team efforts led to a 2nd place team finish to match the boys.
The Hoosier Conference meet is up next for the Bison runners. Hamilton Heights hosts this year’s races next Saturday starting with the boys’ race at 9 AM.
Official Results are attached, along with pictures of our second place teams with Rensselaer’s Coach Z for which the Invitational is named after, and meddlers Carter Fox, Maddie Peterson, and Loralei Rayman.
-Coach Dusty Hughes
Big Z Boys Results 2025
Big Z Girls Results 2025