Goessel runners place seventh at state meet
Staff writer
The Goessel Bluebirds capped a successful cross-country season with a strong showing at the 2A state meet in Wamego Saturday.
The boys’ team placed seventh, with Dawson Duerksen and Adrian Kastner finishing in the top 30. Dawson’s time of 18:23.6 landed him in 27th, while Adrian came in 30th with an 18:26.2. The three others to get points were Jerah Schmidt, in 44th with an 18:50.3, Brendan Hicks, in 73rd with a 19:52.3, and Jacob Schrag, in 74th with a 19:52.9. Chico Bertozzi and Timothy Schrag also ran for the team, but they did not place high enough to get points. Chico came in 80th with a 20:07.6, while Timothy followed less than 20 seconds after, with a 20:25.9 for 86th place.
Coach Brian Lightner was worried when some of them hung back at the start, but he was glad they didn’t set too fast a pace, he said.
Despite finishing outside the top-5 as a team, their 147 points were just 11 more than the third-place team.
“No one had run here before, so the experience of being here is a great privilege,” he said. “I was very proud of them for not going out too fast.”
Goessel’s lone runner from the girls’ team was freshman Elsie Clark. Her time of 22:09.1 was enough to finish 25th.
“This is a very hilly course, so I tackled those well,” she said. “It was definitely more than I expected, there were a lot of gradual hills. It doesn’t look like much, but you feel it.”