HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Every Wolf who raced Saturday night left John Hunt Running Park with a personal or season best. All 27 Buford athletes reached that mark at On Twilight at PR'ville, with school-record performances from Jasmine Jones and Matthew Pham highlighting the trip.
Jones led the way with a victory in the rated girls 5K, crossing in 18:28.36 to establish both a new Buford school record and the meet record for the rated girls race. The senior finished more than 37 seconds ahead of runner-up Carly Christman of Heritage-Catoosa and helped the varsity girls earn fourth place overall.
Olivia Park was the second Wolf across the line, placing 21st in 20:40.08. Maria Riano Lopez followed in 47th at 21:27.60, with Emma Webb finishing 67th in 21:58.87 and Jaelyn Ozkan completing Buford's five-runner scoring group in 70th at 22:05.75.
Jessica Chini added a time of 22:25.19, and Kayla Davis completed the course in 24:04.51. Buford totaled 157 points in the rated girls team standings.
Pham added another school record in the boys championship 5K, breaking the 16-minute barrier with a time of 15:58.59. The sophomore placed 48th overall in a field of more than 300 finishers.
Max Steele was next for the Wolves in 16:58.79, followed closely by Zachary LaForce in 17:02.59. Matthew Jennings crossed in 17:22.79, and Sam Foster completed Buford's scoring five in 17:35.21.
Tripp Bennett finished in 18:07.53, Mateo Cabezas recorded an 18:24.46 and Nicholas Padin followed in 18:38.99. The Wolves placed 26th in the championship team competition.
Buford's junior varsity boys earned sixth place in the open 5K, led by Hunter Curry's 15th-place finish in 18:20.03. Joseph Alanis placed 45th in 18:59.41, while Ahmed Ghanim finished in 19:20.19. Nathan Yun recorded a 19:24.29, and Udim Miranda rounded out the scoring lineup in 19:28.90.
Christian Palmer, Tommy Huynh, Noah Yun, Brian Ngo and Anthony Villaverde also represented Buford in the open race. Macie Hansen led the Wolves in the girls open 5K with a time of 25:41.54, and Alana Roach finished in 30:37.84, completing a night of improvement across the entire Buford lineup.
Buford returns to competition Oct. 7 at the seventh annual Kent Kramer Classic, hosted by Athens Christian School.
