GHS cross country team improving
By DELBERT PETERS
Contributing writer
The Goessel Cross Country team did very well at Marion County Lake on Thursday. Coach Greg Bontrager had his freshman and sophomore runners compete in the junior varsity section of the race and only his four juniors and seniors competed at the varsity level.
Many Goessel parents were at the race to cheer on the team. As the lead runners approached the finish of the race, the supporters began to realize that all their varsity runners were near the front of the pack.
"I feel like a kid at Romper Room," said a delighted Bontrager, who did not know what to expect at this race.
Evan Fast ran his best time of the season finishing 11th 18:07. Zach Plenert the only senior on the team came in 12th at 18:13, and right behind him was junior Kellen Jenkins 13th with a time of 18:14. Brady Peters came in 16th and chopped a whole minute off his previous best with a time of 18:50.
The beautiful 77-degree weather helped the junior varsity to their best times of the season. None of the boys placed in the medal round. Cameron Voth finished in 21:28. The rest of the JV team improved their times by over a minute. Wesley Gibson finished in 21:37, Jake Schrag 22:39, Nate Ensz finished just ahead of Sam Lehrman at 25:19 and Ryan Goertzen ran in 26:44.
Janessa Wedel, Goessel's only girl runner, finished in first place in the junior varsity girls' competition.
Goessel competed Tuesday at Southeast of Saline cross country meet. The course was soaked with a rain the day before and this new experience caused some of the times to be a little slower than usual. Weather conditions can play a factor in a race, so these conditions may help the team at regionals when again the weather may throw new conditions at the runners.
Out of 92 runners in the varsity division, Evan Fast finished 36th, Zach Plenert 44th, Kellen Jenkins 47th, and Brady Peters 55th.
In the JV race Voth came in 38th, Gibson 42nd, Schrag 54th, Ensz, Lehrman and Goertzen came in respectively 72nd, 73rd, and 74th.
Wedel brought home the only hardware for the Goessel team with a 7th place medal out of 25 runners in the JV girls' race with a time of 15:29.
Goessel's next meet will be today at Harvey County East Park, hosted by Berean Academy.
