Cross country sees top finishers at Lander Invite

The Cross Country team saw some great finishes at the Lander Invite on Sept. 14, with McKenna Bomengen placing first with a time of 21:53.59, Tahja Hunt placing sixth with 22:45.19 and Olivia Weyer placing 11th with 23:53.91. Dayna Sandberg placed 10th for JV with a time of 26:54.25.

Coach Stephanie Metz said the course was the team’s first time running a golf course, and she was excited to see how well they ran it because the next two meets are also golf courses.

“We’ve not run in that type of terrain,” Metz said. “They’re used to town running.” She added the weather was a bit weird, being really hot during the middle school races and cooler for JV.

The top finishers really pushed it, Metz said. Bomengen had a drive in her eye, and fought with a girl the whole race but just kept pushing further and further. She said Hunt also pushed to get ahead.

As for Sandberg, Metz kept shouting out her position while she was running. “In that last 400 yards,” Metz said, “she still had two more girls to pass and she’d just stride out and wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

The middle school runners also had the same drive, as Metz pointed out Dazlynn Hunt, Hallie Martinez and Jayda Griffin fought the whole way. “Hallie and Jayda did not get in the top 10, but they wanted it so badly. They were aggressive on the uphills, and then they just kept taking girls off.”

Metz said Sean Johansen also did well for just joining cross country this year, and joining late. The boys team, she said, is really young but a take no for an answer. She was impressed with Kanyon Gerber’s pushing himself, being a first year runner. “I’m just amazed by him every time he runs — really all our sixth-graders — but he doesn’t complain, he doesn’t tire, he just keeps going.”

This week, the team is competing at Worland on Friday, beginning at 4 p.m. Metz said she’s excited because it’s another golf course and the upperclassmen are familiar with the course. She’s hopeful for some more top 10 finishers, but pointed out Cody is competing at the upcoming meet and they are a very large team. As Cody was not at the Lander Invite, it will help give our Bobcats a better idea of who they’re competing against.

Additional results from the Lander Invite include:

MS Girls

Dazlynn Hunt fourth 15:29.12

Hallie Martinez 14th 16:07.12

Jayda Griffin 22nd 16:28.33

Elizabeth Peterson 66th 18:19.86

Brooklyn Williams 75th 18:45.29

Kadance Bowman 118th 20:52.35

Team fifth, 156 points

MS Boys

Sean Johansen 72nd 17:21.70

Kanyon Gerber 91st 18:01.73

Karsten Hart 103rd 18:34.79

Jesse Rodriguez 125th 19:50.34