The Mathews High School cross country teams gained valuable experience in a meet against a pair of much larger schools last Wednesday at Beaverdam Park, with the girls’ team defeating Kecoughtan in the process.

Will Hutcheson led Blue Devil runners in 17:55, which was good enough for third overall. He was followed by Jordan Jenkins (18:40), Caleb Sadler (18:41), Kirk Casper (19:15), Sean Carlson (20:01), Zak Webb (20:09) and Calvin Kramer (20:09), who made up the rest of the Devils’ top seven.

Nasir Thomas (19:33) would have been fifth on the team, but he is in eighth grade so his points do not count. Lots of runners on the team set season personal records, as well as overall personal records. However, even with the good times, it was not enough for Mathews to win the meet, and the Blue Devils came in third by a narrow margin. The final score was Gloucester in first with 30 points, Kecoughtan in second with 46, and Mathews in third with 47. The girls’ race began imm...