FA's women's and men's cross country teams made their debut this weekend at the Jungle Run Invitational in Hope Mills along with over 50 other teams. The Patriots showed that they will be a strong team to contend with this year as both the boys and girls finished 4th in the Invitational races against 26 other schools. Caitlyn Burkett came in 2nd in the girls race with a personal best time of 19:57 (only 2 seconds behind 1st place.) The Patriot girls looked strong with all 5 of the scoring runners finishing in under 23 minutes in an early season race. Freshmen runners, Merytt Haney and Leah Given, both ran exceptionally well in their high school XC debut alongside veteran runners, Hannah Franklin and Kianna Cook. In the boys' Invitational race, Jeddy Waldon (10th) and Zach Bunner (12th) led the guys' team to their strongest finish in a large invitational meet beating out several 2A and 3A teams. Bunner (17:38) and teammate Shayan Dolikhani (19:38) both had personal best times nearly a minute faster than last season's best. The newest members of the boys' team, sophomore Stephen Elliott and freshmen Caleb Robinson and Zach Perry showed that the team has a lot of depth this year in their strong performances. Next up: Friday Night Lights Invitational in Kernersville on Sept. 9.