Kimball opens 2014 cross country season at Gering

The Kimball High School cross country team opened the 2014 season with perhaps its toughest competition of the entire season Sept. 5 at the Gering Invite. The Longhorns had to run with many of the large Class B Nebraska Schools along with some of the strong Wyoming schools, but it was a good opening test for coach Tiffany Johnson’s runners.

In the boys team standings at Gering, Scottsbluff, the defending state champions, won with 14 points followed by Sidney with 35, Mitchell with 71, Gering with 80, Alliance with 80, Torrington with 121, Bridgeport with 137, Chadron with 154, Kimball with 169, Hemingford with 176, Douglas with 188, Gordon Rushville with 205, Wheatland with 230 and Creek Valley with 231.

Scottsbluff also won the girls team title with 18 points, followed by Gering with 46, Sidney with 48, Douglas with 76, Chadron with 82, Cheyenne South with 83, Bridgeport with 134 and Kimball with 152.

In the boys division there were 169 runners with 81 varsity and 88 JV, while the girls division had 124 total with 62 in both the varsity and JV sections. The junior high division attracted 92 boys and 66 girls and 158 total.

Coach Johnson said, “I was really happy with our effort and for the first time I can remember, it was a cool day at Gering and conditions were great for the runners.

Kimball had several runners competing in race conditions for the first time ever and coach Johnson said she was pleasantly surprised with how some of them performed. “We have a lot of new people with our program this year and I am so excited. We are getting great leadership from our veteran runners like Ryan Muneio, Rowdy Keller and some of our girls as well”

The highlight of the day may have been the time turned in by sophomore Brandon Barker, who was running his first meet ever as he clocked 18:52 over the 5K course and not that far off moving into the top five on the sophomore school record. He finished 24th overall and was Kimball’s top runner on the day. Senior Ryan Muneio ran 31st in 19:21, sophomore Jordan Greenwood ran 61st in 24:05, freshman Kaden Adrian took 70th in 23:04, and sophomore Joel Evertson finished 78th in 24:05. Senior Rowdy Keller did not run at Gering. Running as JV were Devin Gardner who was 71st in 24:57 and Joseph Pagan 79th in 27:28.

For the Kimball girls, Kailey Dickerson ran the top time of 24:00 over the 5K course to finish 39th. Ivana Valle ran 47th in 24:46, Alexis Gawith took 57th in 28:46, Taylor Walker-Muldoon finished 58th in 29:29, Arica McCloud was 60th in 29:50, and Jessica Hanks took 61st in 30:26. In the JV division, Chrisianne Clower was 54th in 29:57, and Kennedy Lewis took 60th in 29:50. Raylynn Soper and Olivia Ryschon did not run at Gering.

Kimball had three junior high runners compete on the shorter course with Beau Hanks running 63rd in 14:20, Alex Flores taking 83rd in 17:26, and Zayer White finishing 88th in 18:31.