Eastland Sports

The youth movement is paying dividends in a hurry for the Eastland High School cross country team. Led by solid performances from three freshmen, Eastland raced its way to fifth in the final team standings at the Lubbock Invitational on Sept. 25 at Mae Simmons Park. Jim Ned won the boys’ 5-kilometer title with 87 points. Crane finished second in the team standings with 127. Eastland was fifth at 196. Andrew Hicks continued to impress in his rookie season at the varsity level. The Mavericks standout picked up a silver medal by running his way to second in the Class 3A race. He completed the 3.1-mile race with a time of 17 minutes, 32.8 seconds – and finished less than 12 seconds behind Jim Ned’s Chris Saling for the top spot.