Thanks to a superb effort Saturday during the Region 2-AAAAA cross country meet, both the Newton boys and girls will be advancing to the state championships on Saturday in Carrollton.

The Newton boys finished third overall behind Luella and Union Grove. The Lady Rams placed fourth behind Union Grove, Luella and Redan.

It marks the fourth consecutive year in a row that both Newton teams have qualified for state.

Newton's Travis Knight ran a personal best time of 17 minutes and 36.4 seconds.

For the girls, Luella's Kayla Millholland won the region with a mark of 20:43. Newton's Ameryst Armstead finished second with a time of 21:03.

For the boys, other top finishers were Raymond Menefee (12th, 18:36), LeDarren Hall (16th, 18:57), Tyler Ransom (17th, 18:58), Carl Collins (20th, 19:18) and Matt Knight (25th, 20:05).

Meanwhile, top finishers for the Lady Rams were Megan Heineman (8th, 22:26) and Tashia Bowrin (24th, 25:22).

The Newton boys finished with an average time of 18:41.2. The Lady Rams ended with an average time of 24:35.

Newton will compete in the Class AAAAA cross country championships beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday in Carrollton.