SAN MARCOS — The Temple High Junior Varsity Girls Cross Country team battled through the largest and most talented field of runners they have faced all season on Friday morning, competing at the Hays ISD Cross Country Invitational held at the 5 Mile Dam Soccer Complex.

Navigating a massive, highly competitive pack of runners from across Central and South Texas, the JV Tem-Cats held their own and logged strong performances across the board in the 5,000-meter race.

Top Overall Performers

The individual title went to San Antonio Churchill senior Lilly Highley, who broke away to capture first place with a time of 20:38.00. Austin Lake Travis freshman Mika Yoder took runner-up honors at 21:06.00, while Smithson Valley sophomore Jillian Anderson rounded out the top three overall, finishing in 21:10.00.

Temple JV Individual Performances

Sophomore Genesis Barrett led the pack for the Tem-Cats, crossing the finish line in 124th place overall with a team-best time of 25:47.00. Close behind was freshman Layla Ramos, who delivered a strong run of 26:02.00 to take 131st place.

Here is the full breakdown of how the Temple High runners finished:

Genesis Barrett (SO): 25:47.00 (124th place)
Layla Ramos (FR): 26:02.00 (131st place)
Frida Franke (JR): 26:58.00 (157th place)
Elianna Casanova (FR): 26:59.00 (158th place)
Desiree Tools (SO): 27:27.00 (167th place)
Sandra Garcia (SO): 28:06.00 (177th place)

Up Next

The Tem-Cats will look to build on this performance as they prepare for their next competition. Temple will head to the Salado Ten-Roc Ranch Invitational on Thursday, September 10, hosted at the Ten-Roc Ranch in Salado. The action is set to begin early at 7:30 a.m.