In cross country, you want to see your times improve steadily over the course of the season, with the goal of peaking at tournament time.

Tuesday afternoon at Hinson Lake, the Richmond Senior men’s and women’s cross country teams were able to do just that, wth several runners cutting as much as a minute off their previous best times of the season.

The improved times didn’t translate into a meet win, as the Raider women came in second and the Raider men were third in the three-way Southeasterm Conference meet with Purnell Swett and Scotland.

But at this point of the 2010 seaon — with the SEC meet just two weeks away — Richmond coach Reggie Miller is more focused on improving times than winning meets.

“We ran well today,” Miller said.

For the Richmond women, Marie Collins turned in the best showing, coming in third (26:00). Morgan Tedder was right behind her in fourth (26:01). Belle Hillenburg was sixth (27:25) and Shawna Nicholson was 10th (28:24).

For the Raider men, the best effort of the afternoon came from Eli Locklear, who finished second (18:22). Randy Altman was fifth (18L54), Christian Smith came in 18th (22:04) and Donyell Miller was 23rd (23:50).

For Coach Miller and his teams, the focus now shifts to the final regulasr-season meet of the season, next Tuesday at Scotland.

From there, the Raiders’ attention will be squarely centered on the SEC meet, slated Oct. 19 at Pinecrest.

With the hilly courses the Raiders have been running on recently — oncluding their own Hinson Lake course — the Raiders shold be well-prepared for the hilly course they will encounter at Pinecrest.

“Pinecrest runs on that course every day, so they’ll have an advantage,” Miller said. “But we’ve been doing a lot of running on similar courses recently, so we should be in pretty good shape there, as well.”

n Contact sports editor David Vantress at 997-3111, ext. 14 or by email at dvantress@yourdailyjournal.com.