Bluejay harriers take second
Tabor cross country team enjoyed a progressive Saturday, competing at the McPherson College Invitational held at Rolling Acres Golf course.
Both teams finished second out of eight teams with Hutchinson Community College winning both the men's and women's divisions.
The Lady Bluejays, led by freshman Heidi Schmidt, finished with 46 points, 23 in back of the Lady Dragons while the men's 75 points were 60 behind the Dragons.
"It was a tough day for racing on the hilly course," Bluejay coach Karol Hunt said. "The heat and wind, along with the continuous hills affected our times."
For the second straight week, the women's team had three finishers in the top 10 with Schmidt taking third on the five-kilometer course in 21:58.
Struggling throughout the race, Angie Jost came in fourth at 22:27.
Freshman Amber Weins rounded out the top 10 in a 10th place time of 23:05.
Newcomer Tiffany Stevens grabbed 17th place in 24:29.
"Heidi and Amber are effectively making the transition to college running," Hunt said. "The goal for the women this week was to close the gap between the number-three and four runners.
"We accomplished that with Tiffany. I am really pleased with Tiffany's progress at this point. She did not run her senior year of high school so it's been two years since she ran competitive races. It just takes time to get back in race shape."
Rebekah Lockhart and Jennie Throne filled in the 30th and 32nd spots with times of 26:20 and 27:00.
Freshman Anthony Bartlett's 13th place time of 31:08 in the eight-kilometer race marked the highest finish for the men.
"Anthony really worked on consistency in practice and race strategy this week and his performance was evident of that," said Hunt.
Running consistently second on the 2003 team, Kyle Larson took 17th, 24/100 of a second behind Bartlett.
Freshman Mike Norris showed more consistency with a 21st place and personal best time of 31:58, the only Bluejay to lower his time from a week ago.
Kevin Larson was 23rd in 32:08, while Matt Lynam and Jeff Anenson finished in 34:51 and 35:27 for 27th and 28th place, respectively.
On deck for the Bluejays is the Tabor Invitational Saturday at Cottonwood Point, Marion Reservoir.
The women begin at 10 a.m. with the men scheduled 40 minutes later.
