Messenger file photo by Chris McCarthy
Ashville High senior Joe Stevens (pictured above) finished second out of 408 runners in the Bronze division at the Jesse Owens Classic 5K at Oakman Indian Mounds Park on October 1.
Stevens, whose time of 16:17.37 was nine seconds behind winner Agustin Lemuz of LAMP (16:08.59), broke his own school record of 16:23 set on the same course at last year’s Class 4A state meet, which he won.
Three local runners finished in the top 25: Southside’s Hayden Tucker in 17th place at 17:37.96, Ashville’s Ryan Matthews in 18th place at 17:48.25 and Southside’s Max Valentine in 19th place at 17:49.68.
In the girls’ race, Ashville’s Taylor Knight finished 15th out of 308 Bronze runners with a time of 20:40.94. Southside’s Sarah Burger placed 22nd at 21:02.92.