The road to state championship redemption ran through Saltillo on Saturday.

The OHS boys and girls cross country team traveled to Saltillo for the Saltillo Invitational meet on September 17, finishing second place to Pearl.

The top finishers for the boys varsity team were senior Kyle Rock, senior Jonathan “JT” Tyler and senior Scott Brown. Rock had a time of 16:38:50, Tyler with a time of 17:38:50, and Brown with a time of 17:40:70.

Rock set a new personal record. Rock’s previous time was 16:51, from the meet on September 3.

“I had no idea I would be at this level right now,” said Rock. “It’s the fastest I’ve ever ran and I couldn’t be happier about it”

Tyler “wasn’t exactly 100 percent pleased” with his time this meet, but says that he is still trying to get back into the rhythm of running 5Ks.

“Last year I was running a little bit faster,” Tyler said, “but we are training a little bit different this year so I hope it pays off at state.”

Brown beat his personal record this meet. This was a huge accomplishment so early in the season.

“This time was a personal record for me, my previous being 18:02 at regionals last year,” said Brown. “So beating that and breaking eighteen was really gratifying. It’s great to be improving with other seniors in our last season, and I know our coaches are proud of how we’ve been doing so far. We have a great group of guys, and one of the best teams in Oxford history.”

Head coach Chris Patton was very pleased with the performance of the team.

“I had some runners who ran better than I thought they would and actually surprised themselves,” Patton said. “Everyone competed well or at least took a step in the direction of learning how to compete.”

The top three finishers for the girls varsity team in the same meet were sophomore Addie Thompson, senior Swayze Elliot, and sophomore Katelyn Rock. Thompson had a time of 21:17:20, Elliot with a time of 21:17:80, and Rock with a time of 21:51:70.

Elliot was happy with her time, cutting off over a minute from her time in the last meet.

“It was still a minute over my personal record, which is 19:58,” said Elliot, “but my goal is to improve each meet.”

The teams are not just teams though. They’re small, tight-knit families. It’s not ‘every man for himself’ it’s ‘every man for each other’.They all push each other to their limits and then a little further. Elliot and Thompson are a great example of this.

“Addie is a great runner,” Elliot said. “We push each other every practice and race. I love having her on the team.”