TROY — Asher Long made history Saturday night at the Troy Night Lights Cross Country Meet as he shattered a school record by 13 seconds that has stood for 37 years.
Competing against many much larger schools, Long ran the fastest 5K time in Covington cross country history, winning the Scarlet race in 15:40.6. His time bettered the previous school record of 15.53 set by Ryan Stover 37 years ago in 1985.
Covington finished 16th as a team.
The rest of Covington’s top seven included Beck Wilson, 100, 17:53.7; Preston King, 119, 18:03.7; Calub Hembree, 127, 18:07.3; Tanner Palsgrove, 147, 18:21.3; Caleb Ryman, 174, 18:46.5 and Mic Barhorst, 191, 19:09.7.
For the girls, Elyza Long was the highest finisher for the Lady Buccs by taking 17th with a time of 19:23.4. The remainder of the runners finished as follows: Johanna Welborn, 44, 20:39.6; Kassidy Turner, 116, 22:41.6; Delaney Murphy, 123, 22:49.8 and Eve Welborn, 126, 22:54.7.
The Lady Buccs as a team finished in 15th place.
Note: Several days after the race it was determined that the course at Troy was 50 meters too short of the required distance to be eligible for the school record.