West Ouachita High School headed east down I-20 to get their 2025 season started at The Opener in Clinton, Mississippi. The Chiefs had success as senior leaders on both the girls' and boys' side earned Top 10 finishes. Emma Bielkiewicz finished No. 8 in the girls' division while Jack Kelley finished No.5 in the boys' race.
Kelly crossed with a time of 16:32 to finish in the top five of his season opening race for the third straight year. Last year, Kelly opened up with a third-place 15:40 at Parkway's Border Dash. During his sophomore season, Kelley opened with a fifth-place 5K time of 17:39 at the Warhawk Invitational.
"I thought Jack had a great race," West Ouachita head coach Alex Sambro said. "The goal was to stay pretty low key for Week No. 1 and let his teammates do a lot of the work behind him. We have a good bit of depth this year and the guys looked great."
But any cross country runner will tell you it's not how you start the season that matters. It's how you finish. Kelley finished well with a runner-up performance in the LHSAA Division II State Cross Country Championships with a time of 15:46.
The depth Sambro mentioned was on display Saturday. Sophomore David Bennett finished just outside of the Top ten with a time of 16:44. Senior teammate Aaron May (16:52) was right behind Bennett. Junior Jacob Borden (17:10) and senior Austin Cooper (17:48) has Sambro liking his chances if the Chiefs are able to navigate through the 2025 season and remain healthy.
While Kelley will lead the boys' team this year for Sambro, it will be senior Bielkiewicz on the girls' side who will be leading the way. She opened Saturday with a time of 20:18.30. It was the fourth year in a row that Bielkiewicz, who finished third in the Division II state cross country meet last year, has finished in the top ten in her season opening race.
Last year, Bielkiewicz opened with a win at Parkway's Border Dash. Her time in that race was 18:56.
"Emma had a great summer of training," Sambro said. "She really bought into the process rather than the outcome. She looked strong on a tough course Saturday. I think she'll surprise a lot of people later this season."
West Ouachita was not the only North Louisiana team to cross over the Mississippi River to compete at The Opener. Cedar Creek represented The Boot as well.
Sophomore Luke Alexander's personal record of 16:53 highlighted the day for the Cougars, but Alexander wasn't the only Cedar Creek runner to leave Clinton with a personal record. Freshman Evelyn Mills (23:36) and sophomore Will Myers (22:31) also ran personal record time in unfavorable conditions.
West Ouachita and Cedar Creek will be pointing their team buses in the same direction this Saturday morning when they travel to South Bossier Park for Parkway's Border Dash.