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Cross country opens

The Thermopolis cross country season got underway with their first meet, the Kelly Walsh Invite, and Coach Stephanie Metz said the team performed very well, noting the high school runners dropped time from this meet last year. McKenna Bomengen placed 23rd with 23:25, Tahja Hunt placed 29th with a time of 23:59, and Olivia Weyer placed 34th with 24:31.

The three girls ran at junior varsity level last year, and varsity this year, Metz said, so they got to experience a different level of competition. She said they did well with the elevation, as the meet is on Casper Mountain.

Metz said the middle school students also did well, with four top 10 finishers. Dazlynn Hunt placed second with 15:15, and Jayda Griffin was right behind, coming in third at 15:28. Metz said the rankings were very exciting, as the two are sixth grade students competing alongside eighth graders.

Hallie Martinez, an eighth grader, also placed in the top 10 at fifth, with a time of 15:46, and sixth grader Ty Peterson placed ninth with 15:28.

Metz said there are a lot of new faces at the middle school level. Six ran at the Kelly Walsh Invite, and she expects there will be 10 overall. There are four high school runners, including Dayna Sandberg who did not run at Kelly Walsh.

Metz plans to work with runners' pacing, noting their splits were uneven. This means they might run a 6:30 in the first mile but an 8:30 in the second mile. She wants to work on keeping a strong pace through the race and a strong finish.

Overall, the kids are enthusiastic and have a good attitude, Metz said, even showing up for optional Saturday practices.

The next event is the Billings Invite, this Saturday at 2 p.m. Metz said this is a high school only meet, and she's excited to see how they do. The course will be much flatter, so it will giver her a better picture of where the runners are.

Additional middle school results from the meet include:

Karsten Hart 15th, 17:55

Kanyon Gerber 18th, 19:09

 

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