LEESBURG – Twenty-six high school cross country teams and more than 500 athletes competed in Saturday’s Lee County Invitational in Leesburg. Thomas County Central’s boys and girls teams made tremendous improvements, according to head coach Rosalie Wilson.

“I was very happy with it,” Wilson said. “The girls got sixth, and the boys got 10th. They were both in the top half of the teams there. We had a lot of kids that ran personal records. We were very happy with them.

“It was a big meet. It was a really well done meet. They do it every year on 9-11 weekend. I think this is the 20th year that they’ve done it, but it’s always a really good meet.”

Cadence Curnalia placed second overall for the Lady Yellow Jackets.

Wilson said her team honors the “Runners of the Meet” who experience a growth percentage in their times from previous meets. Central recognized Caroline Westberg and Dre Davis.

“They cut a lot of time from the week before,” Wilson said.

There were 316 boys and 195 girls that participated in the South Georgia meet.

Central will next compete in the Wakulla County Cross Country Meet in Crawfordville, Florida, on Saturday, Sept. 16. Thomasville will compete at the Deerfield Invitational in Albany, Georgia, on Saturday.

MacIntyre Park Middle School’s boys cross country team also competed in Leesburg and finished fifth out of 25 middle school teams.