Lincoln County’s Alexis Slone made a statement last year in her first regional high school cross country championship appearance, posting the third best time among individual qualifiers to earn the middle school runner her first trip to the high school state meet.

Slone, who was a seventh-grader and the lone Lincoln qualifier, was one of very few middle schoolers qualifying for the state run, and she placed 90th out of 215 athletes in the Class 3A division.

She topped herself this year, though. Slone, who was one of the Lady Patriots’ top runners throughout the season, posted the second best time among individual qualifiers, finishing between her teammates McKenzie Settles and Constance Johnson as all three advanced. At the 2018 state high school meet, the LCMS eighth-grader trimmed about 30 seconds off her region time of 23:04.14 to finish 87th out of 237 runners, 27 spots higher than her pre-race ranking of 114.

And now Slone has been named KTCCCA All-Area 8 First Team among middle school runners.

Area 8 includes the counties of Adair, Bell, Casey, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Green, Jackson, Knox, Laurel, McCreary, Owsley, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Russell, Taylor, Wayne and Whitley, as well as Lincoln.

Others athletes named All-Area 8 First Team were:

Southwestern – Jasmin Akin

North Laurel – Taylor Allen, Charity Hammons, Laci House, Eliza Mills

Pulaski Co. – Alex Cundiff

Rockcastle Co. – Alexis Dotson, Emma Watson

Taylor Co. – Makenna Jenson

Casey County’s Abby Vaughn, who placed 31st in the Class 2A high school state meet, was named Runner of the Year. North Laurel coach Rachel Gaynor was named Coach of the Year.