Both the girls’ and boys’ Mathews High School cross country teams clinched the Tidewater District championship title at a meet last Thursday at West Point High School.

Officially, the Tidewater District no longer exists due to the recent reorganization of the VHSL teams, but for the past two years West Point has hosted it for the sake of tradition. The district consisted of the King William, King and Queen, Mathews, Middlesex and West Point high schools, and all those teams were present last week. This is the eighth year in a row for the boys and the fifth for the girls.

The girls’ race proved to be the closest of the season. After the top five runners from each team crossed the line, the score was tied for first place by Mathews and King William. According to cross country scoring rules, the tie break was dependent upon the finish of the sixth runner from either team and in this case it was Mathews runner Kaitlyn Thompson, who beat King William’s sixth-place runner for the win.

Rileigh Betz was the first finisher overall, making her the new Tidewater District champion. She ran the course in 21:29. The rest of the top five girls for Mathews included: Reilly Price (22:13), Maddy Hobert (23:18), Alyssa Curko (23:50) and Emma Hudgins (24:06).

The boys’ race was not so close. Ridge Ellis from Middlesex came in first overall and took home the district champion title. After him, however, was a stream of Mathews runners including Justin Adams, Sam Jasinski, Jalen Thomas and Lance South. Adams was ahead of the pack finishing at 17:32 but after him the Blue Devils were in quick succession. Jasinski finished in 18:18, Jalen Thomas in 18:25, and Lance South in 18:46. Soon after, fifth Devil Cody Kelly finished with a time of 19:20. As the Mathews boys’ times start to come down, the post-season is starting to look promising.

The MHS cross country team traveled yesterday for a meet at New Kent High School.