HS Cross Country Team has Excellent State Tournament!
By Amy Peters:
Six Lake County runners competed in the State Cross Country Championships in Colorado Springs last Saturday, October 28. The last time Lake County sent this many cross country athletes to state was 2007. The Panthers took advantage of the championship energy and perfect weather- cool and not windy- to turn in some significant personal bests.
Molly Lenhard concluded her high school cross country career with a smart, tough race. She was rewarded with her first performance under 23 minutes. Her time of 22 minutes 46 seconds was a 45-second personal record (PR) and earned her 41st place. Ariel Benney dropped another 3 seconds off her excellent regional time to reach 24:12 and 76th place. Sophomore Dominika Piech had a breakthrough race, improving her PR by 1:31. She ran 25:53 and took 94th place. Abby Holm finished under 30 minutes for the first time at regionals with her time of 29:56. This week, Abby shattered that mark and completed the course in 28:00 and 104th place. Hannah Holm, who’s best time coming into state was 31:45, also smashed through the 30 minute barrier, crossing the finish line in 29:23 and 106th place.
The Lady Panthers were 16th as a team.
In only the second cross country race of his career and his first ever trip to a state meet, junior Josh Rivera went out aggressively and finished in 46th place with a solid time of 18:43.