Both the boys’ and girls’ Rugby cross country teams competed in the North Dakota Class B East Region Cross Country Championship on Saturday, Oct. 11, at the Cooperstown Golf Course where they each took home second place.

The Panthers’ boys’ cross country team took their second place finish with an overall score of 118, behind first place finisher Kindred, who ended the event with a team score of 71. Rugby junior Brayden Green was the top runner for the boys’ team at the regional event and was the only member of the boys’s team to qualify for an All-Region title. Green completed the varsity 5,000 meter race with a time of 17 minutes 9.6 seconds. The first place finisher in the event was senior Owen Johnson from Northern Cass. Johnson finished with a time of 16 minutes 4.7 seconds and finished more than 35 seconds before the second place finisher. The next Rugby boys’ runner to finish was freshman Zeke Puente, who finished in 23rd place with a time of 18 minutes 40.9 seconds. Puente earned yet another personal record for the varsity 5,000 meter during the race. He broke his previous personal record that he earned the week before 31st Annual Rugby Booster Club Invitational with his time of 18 minutes 42.4 seconds.

The Rugby Panthers girls’ cross country team also took home second place out of the 28 competing teams. Freshman Allie Monroe was the fastest runner from the Rugby girls’ team during last Saturday’s meet. Monroe took home fifth place individually during the varsity 5,000 meter race with a time of 19 minutes 52.7 seconds. She was one of four Rugby girls runners to earn an All-Region title. Senior Hannah Senechal was the second runner for the Lady Panthers with an eleventh place finish with a time of 20 minutes 28 seconds. Senechal also earned an All-Region title. The two other All-Region title winners from the Rugby girls’ cross country team were junior Evyn Jacobson, earning twelfth place with a time of 20 minutes 29 seconds, and eighth grader Katelyn Shively, who took 19th place with a time of 20 minutes 59 seconds.