Perhaps Saturday's cross country meet in Rome could be classified as a Personal Records by the Pond, as many of the 26 who ran turned in not only season PR's, but lifetime as well.
 
There was some pandemonium as well, as there were 29 boys teams and 21 girls who scored. Also, the humidity hit 98% around race time, though being August, what can you expect.
 
As for HI, the Bears competed in three events – boys' varsity, girls' varsity, and boys' JV. The course was semi-wet grass, one big loop, that rounded a pond and had some challenging hills.
 
Harris Bradford set the tone for the boys' as far as "bests" are concerned – as he finished 6^th out of the large field in time of 16 minutes, 44 seconds. His supporting cast – and the rest of the scoring five in order – were Bobby Spencer, Matthew George, Brayden Briles, and Gavin Campos.
 
George's race was a P.R. by an amazing one minute, 40 seconds.
 
Rounding out the 10 were Liam Silhan, Thomas Stotts, Tiger Winsett, Nicholas Busch, and Fernando Notario. 
 
As for the girls, Ellison Losin also ran her best ever by 31 seconds – her time of 21:25 paced the 10 girls who competed. Laney Kate Miller made her varsity debut with an impressive 23:07 despite battling a hurt hip, and Blair Huber came in next.
 
Both Ellison and Blair's times were four minutes faster than their times of a week ago.
 
Edie Coil and Belle Moore came in almost side by side to round out our scoring five, while Jackie Sullivan, Mae Stibbs, Emma Broeschen, Alice Poe, and Sasha Thompson also turned in gutsy performances.
 
In the boys' JV – six ran – with the order of finish Connor Jaax, Merrick Moorehead, Dylan Lash, Daniel Rachelson, Finn Bergmann, and Tison Turneen. 
 
Looking ahead, the Running Bears will head up to Gainesville next Saturday before catching a well-deserved Labor Day break the following weekend.