Cross country hosts home meet

The Thermopolis cross country team had a strong showing at their Bobcat Invite last Saturday, with McKenna Bomengen taking first place more than a full minute ahead of her nearest competitor.

Coach Stephanie Metz said, "It was just amazing, a really exciting meet, and some awesome results. McKenna did an awesome job leading the pack." Metz added she was also really excited to see how Tahja Hunt ran throughout the race. "She had some really good high points. She showed some strong promise. I'm looking forward to seeing how she finishes out her season."

Metz said a group of runners - Hallie Martinez, Aspen Jensen, Rebekah Johnson and Dayna Crow - are all running together and working hard to see who will get the girls' team third and fourth spots. "They worked hard the whole race. They pushed uphill and worked the downhill, and made me super proud."

She's just as excited for the boys, who continue to come back for each race and do more than expected. In particular, she said, Cord Simeral did a great job to close the gap between him and Corbin Simeral and continues to work to be the best he can. Karsten Hart was hurting, she said, but kept pushing the whole race. Isaac Robinson was the same way, exhausted but finishing strong.

"I'm excited to see how our boys compete in Worland against the Warriors," Metz said, "but more importantly in that flat race. Karsten and Isaac have seen it but Cord and Corbin haven't. It'll be nice to have them run that flat course and get an actual 3.1-mile time.

"I'm excited to see how they do against their 2A competitors. We're a lot stronger than people thought we were."

The Worland Invite begins Thursday, Sept. 26 at 3 p.m.

HS Girls: McKenna Bomengen, 20:46.46; Tahja Hunt, 22:20.38; Hallie Martinez, 23:36.67; Aspen Jensen, 23:56.75; Rebekah Johnson, 25:11.72; Dayna Crow, 25:39.22

HS Boys: Corbin Simeral, 20:45.67; Cord Simeral, 21:13.44; Karsten Hart, 22:39.15; Isaac Robinson, 23:12.02

MS Girls: Mercedes Martinez, 13:23.19; Jayda Griffin, 14:26.11; Kamryn Farrell, 15:12.04; Jayssie Owsley, 15:14.58; Kadance Bowman, 15:34.77; Madison Shaffer, 16:35.07; Lillian Johnson, 19:11.82; Makayla Moore, 20:58.56

MS Boys: Seth Needham, 12:43.91; Jesse Rodriguez, 12:53.77; Kanyon Gerber, 13:59.37; Jubal Wagler, 14:48.01; Brody Potter, 15:09.00; Cody Bomengen, 16:48.76; Aidan Freeman, 17:50.47; Joseph Crow, 17:51.82