Published: November 20, 2007 03:23 pm            

Wayne County High School runners achieve fastest times at state meet

Monticello — Two of Wayne County High School's cross country team runners succeeded in beating their own personal records at the state championship held at the Kentucky Horse Park on November 10.

"I was pleased with both runners (Shelby Bell and Samantha Sexton) performances at the state championships as well as their effort throughout the entire season," said Wayne County Cross Country Coach Kevin Jones. Jones has built up a growing sport amongst boys and girls of all ages at Wayne County Schools, in the past several years.

Senior Shelby Bell traveled to the state competition for the third consecutive year to compete in the Boy's Class AA race. He qualified for the state competition at the regional level, after covering the 3.1 mile course with a time of 18:56 at the Asbury College course. He had finished 18th out of 66, which qualified him for state.

Bell then beat his regional level performance by finishing with a time of 18:54, a personal record. He placed 110 out of 203. Bell, the son of David and Rhonda Bell, said it was his fastest time, but was slightly disappointed because it did not meet his goal.

"He had set a goal for himself to finish in the top 75 and he would have made it if he could have shaved about 20 seconds off of his time," said Coach Jones. "I was still proud of him for his effort, not only this year, but the last three years."

His running career has helped with other sports he has been involved with at school. He is anxious to take advantage of his running skills and play tennis next semester, for the first time.

He and other students will be the first to use the newly constructed tennis courts on the school campus.

Bell plans on attending Tennessee Tech and would like to participate on the cross country team. He is hoping to work towards a partial athletic scholarship after his freshman year and will major in engineering.

Sophomore Samantha Sexton, daughter of Ronnie and Misty Sexton and Sallye Broyles, participated in cross country competition for her first year.

Samantha ran 40 seconds faster in the state meet than she did in the regional meet. She finished with a time of 22:50, which was a personal record, placing 123rd out of 197.

"I think Samantha was happy with her time, as well as she should be,"

said Coach Jones. "She has a bright future in this sport if she will continue to work at it."

Sexton enjoyed participating in cross country to keep herself in shape and to run for the fun of it.

Her favorite sport is softball and she also has participated in basketball, volleyball and swim team.

        

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