HHS cross country boys take second at Bluestem
HHS earn seven individual medals
The Hillsboro High School cross country boys' team placed second at the Bluestem Invitational meet held Thursday.
Twenty-one schools competed in the event. In the boys' division, Clearwater placed first with a score of 60 followed by second-place Hillsboro with 91, Circle with 107, Wichita Collegiate with 113, Rose Hill with 148, Central-Burden with 164, Andale with 180, Bluestem with 184, Halstead with 192, Remington with 230, Peabody-Burns with 262, Marion with 286, Canton-Galva with 333, and Flint Hills with 347.
"With 21 schools at the meet, the guys should feel good about a solid second-place finish, behind Clearwater, a 4A school," Coach Stuart Holmes said.
According to Holmes, a few of the schools had nearly 100 runners competing, "So our runners competed well," Holmes said.
Senior Kody Borg was the first Trojan to cross the finish line, running in a time of 18:09. Borg placed 11th and earned a medal at the meet.
Other medal winners were sophomore Sean Leihy who placed 16th with a time of 18:35 and senior Karl Magnuson who placed 19th with a time of 18:42.
Other Trojans harriers competing were Cody McMillen who placed 22nd with a time of 18:57; Daniel Bookless, 33rd with a time of 19:11; and Robert Jost, 64th with a time of 20:38.
"Cody was just two places from medaling in his first varsity race as a freshman," Holmes said.
Competing in the boys' junior varsity race were Jon Janzen who placed 40th with a time of 22:12; Zach Magnuson, 58th with a time of 23:04; Clint Schneider, 65th with a time of 23:39; Gavin Serene, 66th with a time of 23:41; Alex Jost, 67th with a time of 23:51; Tyrel Blecha, 76th with a time of 23:51; Zach Luthi, 80th with a time of 25:26; and Lance Kliewer, 81st with a time of 25:27.
In the girls' division, four Trojans received medals at the meet.
"It was neat to have four of the girls medal," Holmes said. "Our girls are young or new to running distances, so it was good to be able to have them run against other runners who are new to the sport."
Coach Holmes said for the rest of the season the girls will run in varsity meets. He explained that most meets do not allow teams to run athletes in the junior varsity races unless teams have full varsity teams.
"The girls have shown good progress so far and I'm sure they will continue to focus on working to improve their times," he added.
Leading the way for the Trojans in the JV race was Hannah Marsh who placed fourth with a time of 15:14 and received a medal. Other medal winners were Elissa Richert who placed ninth with a time of 15:14, Jacque Fisher placed 12th with a time of 15:27, and Greta Kliewer placed 19th with a time of 15:59.
Other runners were Megan Peachey who placed 41st with a time of 18:32 and Megan McCarty 46th with a time of 21:02.
The teams competed Tuesday at Southeast of Saline and will be in action at the Berean cross country meet at 4 p.m. Sept. 30 in Elbing.
