Junior Owen Likins advanced to the state cross country meet after placing sixth in the UIL 5A Region 2 Championship on Oct. 22.

Likins ran the race with a time of 15:37 allowing him to place sixth out of 183 runners in the meet.

“Regionals was real exciting. It was a big race and really competitive,” Likins said. “My time wasn’t great, but obviously, I was happy to qualify for state.”

Competitors braved the elements and ran the course despite poor weather conditions.

“The course was really muddy because of all the rain,” Likins said. “It wasn’t necessarily a fast course, but it was real competitive.”

Likins will move on to compete at the state level for the second time with hopes of improving off of last year’s final time of 16:41.

“I feel really good going into state. I feel like I’ve been training well,” Likins said. “I feel prepared to compete and run fast.”

Likins will compete in the state cross country meet in Round Rock on Nov. 3.