LCHS Cross Country Athletes to State !
Seven Lake County athletes are headed to the Cross Country State Championships next Saturday in Colorado Springs! Their strong performances at the regional meet in Pueblo on October 19 earned them the opportunity to extend their season.
The girls qualified as a team, by finishing 4th out of 12 schools, so all 6 ladies get to participate in the state meet. Molly Lenhard, who has had some disappointing regional meets, made sure history did not repeat itself. She took off with the lead pack and maintained a position in the top 7 throughout the race. Her fast final half mile enabled her to finish in 5th place with a personal best time of 23 minutes 31 seconds. Ariel Benney ran her best race of the season. Although she was frequently challenged for her spot in the top 15, she held on and finished in 14th place. Her time of 24:15 was a 37 second Personal Record (PR). Despite dealing with a sore ankle, Dominika Piech managed to take 31st place in 28:01. Abby Holm met her season goal of breaking through the 30-minute barrier, finishing in 29:56 and 37th place. Jackie Williams ended up 39th in 31:42, and Hannah Holm was 42nd in 32:28.
On the boys’ side, Joshua Rivera made his cross country debut. Rivera has been training on the bike throughout the season because of a knee injury, but he was finally approved to compete last Thursday. In his first ever 5K, Rivera placed 7th with a strong time of 18:41 and punched his ticket to the state meet.
One of the day’s disappointments was the result for Joe Koch. Although Koch has had a fabulous season and on Thursday turned in a PR of 19:22, he ended up 16th, only 2 seconds and one position away from qualifying for state.
Conner Lenhard gave a great effort to reach 20:25, a 31 second PR, and take 26th place. Zayden Tufte was 35th in 21:29, and Jarrett Rongstad finished in 23:39 and 47th place.
As a team, the boys placed 5th, only 10 points behind 4th place Buena Vista. Unfortunately, only the top 4 teams move on to state, and regionals ended the season for all the guys except for Rivera.
The state meet will be held at Norris Penrose Event Center. The girls race at 10:00 am, and Rivera will start at 11:20 am.