Mineola sophomore Olivia Hughes is picking up her running career where she left off last spring – leading the pack. Hughes took first place in the 2-mile cross country race at the Yellowjacket Invitational Sept. 2 and followed by taking the blue ribbon at the Harts Bluff Invitational last week.

In the 2-mile course at the Yellowjacket meet, Hughes recorded the fastest time, 12:39.40 minutes. At Harts Bluff, Hughes recorded an 11:56.12 mark to win the 3,200-meter course.  

The Lady Jackets cross country team leveraged three finishes in the top ten to take an overall second place finish. Palestine raced to first place and Carthage third place in the girls’ team competition.

Finishing times for the Lady Jackets at the Yellowjacket Invitational were Olivia Hughes 12:39.40, Raylie Peebles 13:45.00, Shylah Kratzmeyer 14:01.90, Yareli Hernandez 15:39.47, Destiny Gandy 16:45.90, Jaylee Nevarez 16:46.10, Brianna Palacious 17:35.90, and Mariana Delgadillo 17:47.50. At Harts Bluff, Desiree Gandy joined the team and recorded a 15:40.81 in the 3,200-meter.

Competing for the boys team at the Yellowjacket Invitational were Cris Alejo, Tristan Wells, Alex Reyes, Saul Barriga, Kaleb Silverio, Max Ripley, Gabriel Bardwell and Adrien Rodriguez. Alejo finished with the best time on the team, racing to a 19:25.10 in the 5,000-meters. It put him in with a 17th place finish. 

At Harts Bluff, Alejo was joined by Reyes and Wells. Alejo finished in 12th place, Reyes 22nd and Wells 26th.