The Mathews High School cross country teams beat squads from West Point and Rappahannock in a meet last Wednesday at Gloucester’s Beaverdam Park. The girls won handily, while the MHS boys edged out West Point by a point.

The MHS girlshad a final score of 15 points, a perfect score for a cross country race, finishing first through eighth in the overall placement. Rileigh Betz (23:32) was first, followed by the rest of the top seven: Jaysen Hall (23:36), Ellie Gale (23:36), Skylar Lewis (23:52), Reilly Price (24:19), Avery Betz (24:21) and Lizzie Stokes (24:47). Abigail Hudgins (24:55), Alyssa Curko (26:43), Tiffany Condron (27:03) and Kamryn Blake (27:47) completed the rest of the girls’ team. West Point finished in second, with 56 points, and Rappahannock finished in third with 74 points.

The boys’ race commenced after the conclusion of the girls’ contest. In a close battle, the Devils scored 28 points to edge the Pointers, who ended the race with 29. Rappahannock finished in a distant third with 79.

Jalen Thomas (18:16) was the top Mathews runner, finishing second overall. He was followed by the rest of the Mathews top seven, which consisted of Will Hutcheson (19:07), Jordan Jenkins (19:15), Caleb Sadler (19:18), Kirk Casper (20:34), Calvin Kramer (21:12) and Blake Atkins (21:25).

Some other notables were Nasir Thomas (20:12), who placed in the Mathews top seven but did not count for points because he is in eighth grade, and Presley Murphy (23:56), who set his personal record by almost three minutes.

Every runner on the Mathews team contributed to the narrow win, with runners outside of the top seven knocking West Point and Rappahannock runners back in point totals.