Boys Finish 4th, Zoey Elliott finishes 3rd at Willow Springs Meet
September 11th, 2026
It was a big night for both the boys and girls squads as they ran well as a team at the Willow Springs Meet on Thursday the 10th. The boys finished in 4th and the girls had all 4 runners medal including Zoey Elliott finishing 3rd overall.
Story of the Night
Both teams “pack ran” and ran well. The runners paced each other and it led to some success. All five boys ran under 30 minutes and got faster from the last race with most of them around that 25 minute mark.
All 4 girls medaled in the race finishing in the top 15. With the new runners on the team (all the boys are freshman, and all the girls, except Zoey, did not run last year) this is a great showing for just the second meet.
Salem Boys Finishing Time and Place
21st Wesley Dooley 25:17
22nd Jaron Utt 25:18
23rd Parker Dempsey 25:27
24th Noah Hoodenpyle 25:35
25th Tyler Walters 29:31
Salem Girls Finishing Time and Place
Girls. Only 4 girls. Need 1 more eligible for team score
3rd Zoey Elliott 22:55
13th Bea Hovey 33:48
14th Abbi Terrill 35:38
15th Savannah Beard 35:55
Looking at the Runners
Zoey showed again why she is one of the top runners in the area as she recorded a 3rd place finish. She ran almost a minute faster than she did last year at this same race.
When asked about Elliott, Coach Hubbs had this to say, ”Zoey was Zoey. She works so hard. I cannot say enough about her. She is a great athlete.”
But Coach Hubbs wanted to talk about a couple of other runners. “I want to put the spotlight on Abbi Terrill and Bea Hovey. They ran when they were in 9th grade, but stopped. Abbi had to have hip surgery along the way and Bea got busy with other things.”
They are back and they are working hard.
“They have put in some great practices. On the way to this meet they were asking me if they would ever be able to win a medal. I told them they just needed to keep working and things would work out,” said Hubbs.
Coach Hubbs had no idea it would be at this meet. “I am so happy for them. It is great for them to see success. What a great moment.”
Coach Perspective
We asked Coach Hubbs for his perspective on where the team stands after the first two meets. “We have so much room for improvement. Each of the runners, I feel, still looked very strong at the end of the race. I think we can up the pace and start bringing those times down.”
As was mentioned in the early part of the article, you saw the “pack run” mentality from the team as they finished grouped together. It’s part of the comfort that comes from training together.
But that is part of the improvement Coach Hubbs wants to see. “Being new runners we are just learning how to run and what pace we can use. The boys were proud of their finishes, but disappointed they were just barely off the medal stand.”
In this meet, only the top 20 medaled. So the question, is what do the runners have left in the gas tank? As they continue to pace each other during the race to increase everyone’s time, how do they begin to leave the pack as the end of the race nears, and push each other to empty the tank.
That will be the focus of Coach Hubbs as they return to practice.
Up Next
The next meet is at Steelville next Thursday. It is a relatively flat course with one tough hill in which you are running on the side of a hill. “The hill is challenging, but we can do well. I am excited for the next run,” says Coach Hubbs.
First Middle School Meet
It was the first Middle school run of the year. In middle school, the distance of the course is 2.5K rather than the 5K run at the high school level.
For the girls squad, 7th grader Thisbe Felkerson ran a 21:07. A great starting time for her first ever meet.
For the boys team, 7th grader Raleigh Walker and 8th grader Jacob Franklin ran their first ever meets. Jacob put up a strong time of 12:05. Coach Hubbs was proud of his performance.
Raleigh Walker ran a time of 11:21 and claimed the final medal at number 20. He was one of six 7th graders to get medals in an event that is normally dominated by the 8th graders.
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