Year after year, the Logan County High School cross country teams continue to make history.

Last season, the boys’ squad qualified for the state championship meet for the first time in school history. They did it again this year when LCHS hosted the Class 2A, Region 1 meet.

But the Cougars won’t be alone in the state championship, because for the first time ever, the Lady Cougars also qualified.

“I am ecstatic with both of our teams,” Logan County cross country coach Greg Howard said. “Our boys made it to state for the first time in school history last year and follow that up with a back-to-back this year. We did not run our best races at regionals Saturday, but we knew we could still qualify.”

The girls team finished third out of five teams to qualify for the state meet.

Logan County finished with a team score of 78. Union County won the meet with a 31 and Webster County was second at 51.

The Lady Cougars were led by senior Macie Dye, who finished ninth overall with a time of 22:53. Aleja Grant, a seventh grader from Paducah Tilghman, won the individual title with a time of 20:50 – nearly half a minute ahead of second-place finisher Lynease Byers of Trigg County.

Kelsey Hinton was Logan County’s second finisher. She came in 18th in 24:29. Other runners for Logan included Claire Hopkins (23rd, 25:34); Amber Thorlton (24th, 25:35) and Samantha Collins (29th, 26:30).

“Our two seniors Kelsey Hinton and Macie Dye, along with their teammates, exceeded expectations but at the same time we knew they were quite capable if they would step up,” Howard said. “The other girls did just that Claire Hopkins, Amber Thorlton, and Sammie Collins did a great job of coming through especially when our number one runner Hinton was nursing a leg ailment.”

The Logan County boys’ team also finished third, despite running at less than 100 percent.

“Our boys ended up third despite slower than normal performances and our number one runner not being in the top 3,” Howard said. “Sye Head and Troy Fulcher our number one and two runners both woke up with a stomach virus Saturday but still gave their all. Freshman Noah Thomas stepped it up with a personal on Saturday when we

needed a spark.”

Fulcher paced Logan County with a 13th place finish. He had a time of 19:01.

Colton Spencer was 16th in 19:06. Senior Dustin Skipworth was 17th in 19:13. Thompson was 19th with his personal record time of 19:19.

Head, who had beaten race winner Jon Ashby earlier in the season when he was healthy, came in 22nd with a time of 19:34.

“We look forward to state and hopefully finishing in the top 10,” Howard said. “We finished 16th at last year's state meet. We've had a great season and one senior in Dustin Skipworth and I am glad he will be participating in his first ever state meet! Our boys are mostly freshman and a few sophomores. Those that ran in the regional meet were Sye Head, Colton Spencer, Noah Thomas, Troy Fulcher, Dustin Skipworth, Evan Harris, and Justin Holloway.

“I am so proud of both teams for making cross country at our school what it is today, but especially our girls. Tremendous job by all!”