By DELBERT PETERS

Staff writer

It was cool weather for cross-country last week, and Goessel’s runners took advantage of it at Marion.

Elyse Boden set a personal record more than one minute faster than her previous best time, leading the Bluebirds in their finest performance of the season.

Elyse finished third with her new record of 21:59.8.

Porclein Unruh finished 21st with a time of 25:11.2.

In the Junior Varsity division, Katelyn Olson came in eighth with a 26:55.6, and Alyssa Boden was one place behind with a 30:10.9.

Senior David Sawyer came in 49th in the varsity race with a time of 21:51.9. In the JV race, Dustyn Gagnon earned first place with a 21:00.8, and Joey Lapp was second with 21:05.7. Sam Herrel also earned a JV medal with a time of 21:51.6.

Six varsity boys competed last week at Lawrence’s Rim Rock Classic. Forty-three teams competed from all classes and Goessel finished in 25th place, the highest finish of any 1A school. Jerah Schmidt led the Bluebirds with 49th place out of 311 runners and finished with a time of 18:24.8.

“This course is considered one of the premier cross-country courses in the nation,” coach Brian Lightner said.

In spite of the difficulty of the course, all six Goessel runners had their best times of the season.

Results of the rest of the team: Jacob Schrag, 98th, 19:12.1; Dawson Duerksen, 162nd, 19:56.9; Timothy Schrag, 206th, 20:31.4; Jaime Fabrellas, 233rd, 20:53.6; and Ben Olson, 239th, 20:58.6.

Goessel will compete Thursday at the Berean Invitational Meet on Harvey County East Lake.