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The Wildcats' cross country team unveiled its new 2-mile cross country course with the inaugural Westminster Fast Five meet on Thursday.
The course was created by Westminster coach Steve Bouye, with Eric Holgate, Eric Swierski and volunteers clearing a path. Bouye gave a lot of credit to Holgate and his Bobcat machine.
"For the first time, it went great," Bouye said. "All the teams seem to be happy."
Bulloch Academy, North Augusta, Augusta Christian and Edmund Burke Academy joined Westminster to run in the five-team relay, in which the girls and boys ran in pairs and the winners were broken down by pairs and teams.
The girls ran through first and were followed by their partner to combine for one time. The top five pairs won medals and the top three schools earned trophies, so the top individual times were not guaranteed placement.
Bulloch Academy placed first as a team, while Westminster and North Augusta finished in second and third.
Bulloch Academy also had the fastest pair, as Hayley Burke and Will Johnson clocked in at 25:56, 11 seconds ahead of the second pair, Westminster's Annie Speese and Michael Montesclaros.
Individually, sixth grader Emily Rogers, of Westminster, was the first girl to cross the finish line.
"I love running," Rogers said. "I go here, so I run this twice a day."
The course started on one of the practice fields and includes level ground along with one steep hill and rolling hills. The course, which will also be available for use by those who aren't Westminster team members when the Wildcats aren't training, was first developed at the conclusion of this past school.
Bouye cut the ceremonial red ribbon on one of the blue pedestrian bridges prior to the race and Sue Parr, the President/CEO of the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce, said that the course will help train future Ironman competitors.
Augusta State cross country coach Adam Ward fired the starting gun, with members of the Jaguars' team also helping run the meet.
Ward said he ran the course once, though it was before development was complete.
He also said he plans on having his team use the course a couple times, adding that the more a course is used, the better it gets.
"It's good to have another course to run on," Ward said. "It's nice to have variety in cross country."
