‘Thor’ throws down hammer at Region 5 championships

Story by Tommy Wells, Ranger College Sports Information Director

Ranger College sophomore Sydney Leverrett's has had an unusual nickname in each of the last two seasons. He's simply known as "Thor."

Leverett certainly looked like a god at the recent Region V Cross Country Championships. Maybe not like the Norse god of thunder, but certainly like a god from the Region V North scene.

The Chula Vista, CA native raced his way to a sixth-place finish as the 2016 Region V Cross Country Championships at Harry McAdams Park in Hobbs, New Mexico, in October. The lone North Texas Junior Conference runner to finish in the top 10, Leverett was selected to the Region V all-conference list.

Ranger College is the only member of the NTJCAC to field a cross country squad. The Rangers joined with the members of the Western Junior College Athletic Conference to compete in the Region V meet.

"He ran an outstanding race," said RC head coach Kathy Graham.

Just how good was Leverett's outing? Consider this: En route to placing sixth in the individual race standings, he outran every member of rival El Paso Community College's runners. EPCC, as a team, placed seventh in the nation last year.

Leverett's run helped power Ranger College to third in the overall team standings. The Rangers, who had all seven runners finish in the top 25 spots, finished with 85 points. South Plains College and EPCC finished first and second, respectively.

Leverett finished the 8-kolimeter course in a time of 26 minutes and 32.61 seconds. His time was less than 7 seconds behind South Plains' Connor Hughes, who placed fifth at 26:25.71.

Erick Bett and James Ramos also turned in stellar outings for Ranger. Bett placed 17th overall with a time of 27:41.68, while Ramos checked in at No. 19 with a mark of 28:01.88.

Ranger's Joey Hernandez, Carlos Colon, Jose Soto and Isaac Gafishi also placed among the top 25. Hernandez was 21st at 28:13.31, while Colon took 22nd at 28:22.77. Colon and Gafishi were 23rd and 24th, respectively, with times of 28:41.15 and 28:43.90.