CORPUS CHRISTI — Rockport-Fulton junior runner Elly Sparks took first place, and the girls squad finished third overall in the Moody Cross Country Invitational on Aug. 22 at Garcia Park.
Sparks won the girls division with a time of 12 minutes, 45 seconds, which was just more than 14 seconds faster than second place runner Payton Catt of Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial.
Spark’s winning run led a solid overall effort for the Pirates in their first meet of the season with a third place team finish as the five runners that were scored all finished 26th or better. Freshman Ella Buckley finished 22nd with a time of 15:26, Elise Hale was 24th running 15:38, Raleynn Sawicki 25th at 15:39 and Alexandra Snead came in with a time of 15:40 for 26th. Carolin Stephenson finished 44th and Brookly Mercer 60th. Myranda Jaime also competed.
On the boys side, Draegon Sifuentes finished 29th to lead the Pirates with a time of 18:55. Jayden Garza clocked in at 21:05, Matt Lynch ran a 25:18 and CJ Darby 25:48.
Lucious Vega, Cambrynn Seigman, Carlos Nichols and Joselyn Riojas earned medals in the junior varsity races. Sophie Aery, Iliana Fernandez, Liliana Hernandez, Trevor Klein, Carter Solis, Bill Simmons, Colton Marquis, Elijah Rodriguez, Paul Brodersen and Michael Tompkins also competed in the junior varsity races.