Stretching their legs, the Redhawks cross country teams took on their first 5K races of the season on Saturday in Sherman at the TCS Cross Country Invitational.

“It was really good, we had a couple athletes that were SAT testing on Saturday so we had kind of a younger group performing for us,” boys’ head coach Robbie Thayer said. “They stepped up to the challenge and performed really well.”

With all levels running two miles in the season opening Rockhill practice meet, the trip to Sherman gets the team ready for the rest of the season.

“I think it gives us a good baseline for a lot of our kids being young. This was their first 5k competitively so it kind of gives them a baseline to see where to go from here and set goals moving forward,” Thayer said. “Hopefully improve and look at competing at a higher level through the rest of the season and maybe in the district.”

The increased distance was something junior Caitlyn Ruback felt.

“It was definitely harder, but because of my training from week to week I was able to push through,” Ruback said. “I was very proud of my team overall because there was a lot of metals that got brought home and everyone pushed through and tried their best!”