Cross country times keep improving

Coach Stephanie Metz said the cross country runners did well at the Michelle Ludwig Invite in Sheridan on Saturday, with 10th grader McKenna Bomengen placing ninth with a time of 21:02.18, and sixth-grader Dazlynn Hunt placing 13th with a time of 10:54.19.

This was the first meet with the entire team, Metz said, as about half of the middle school runners were missing from the season opener in Casper. Though there are no official awards for middle school, out of the 10 teams competing Thermopolis placed fifth.

“Our girls did amazing,” Metz said, noting there is one eighth-grader and the rest are sixth-graders.

Metz said the boys are fairly inexperienced, with only one returner — Karsten Hart, who placed 101st with 12:44.77. She pointed out sixth-grader Ethan Crow had an amazing performance. He was the second of the Thermopolis boys to finish and placed 79th with a time of 12:09.29.

Ethan’s sister, Dayna Sandberg, was the only JV girl, and did well in her second meet as a high school student. She placed 36th with a time of 26:50.88, cutting her time from last week by 23 seconds.

Sandberg, Metz said, felt the middle school students deserved an award for running alongside her and providing water, both spraying her and giving her drinks. Metz further explained Sandberg ran last at 1 p.m., the hottest part of the day, so it was good she had some support.

The team will compete at Lander on Thursday at 3 p.m. Metz said the meet is at the golf course with a huge hill, so this week they’re working on hill training and speed training. At halfway through the season, Metz said their muscles are tired, “but you wouldn’t know it because they’re all still smiling and ready to go.”

Additional high school results include: Tahja Hunt — 51st 23:39.94; and Olivia Weyer — 72nd 24:40.84

Middle school results include: Jayda Griffin — 18th 11:20.71; Brooklyn Williams — 47th 12:24.35; Elizabeth Peterson — 60th 12:46.74; Hailie Martinez — 70th 12:54.21; Sean Johansen — 77th 12:07.99; Kadance Bowman — 83rd 13:21.20; Jesse Rodriguez 106th 12:49.18; Kanyon Gerber — 110th 13:00.43.