Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Longhorns WTC runnersup
The High School ran the SPVA meet in Grant on Wednesday, Oct. 5, and then we turned around and ran Western Trails Conference in Kimball on Friday, Oct. 7.
Kimball placed 3rd at SPVA out of 7 teams with a score of 44. Bridgeport won with a 27 and Chase County was 2nd with a 38.
Out of a field of 71 runners, Kimball's Brandon Barker took 1st place with a time of 17:48 and Zachery Wagner earned 6th with a time of 18:59.
Kaden Adrian ran 18th with a time of 20:51, Thomas Lenzen was 19th with a time of 21:01, Joel Evertson ran 21st with a time of 21:14, Garrett Pedersen placed 30th with a time of 21:53, Nicholas Thomas-Lewis ran 37th with a time of 22:14, Sebastian Portillo was 63rd with a time of 27:29, Grant Golding came in 65th with a time of 28:15 followed closely by Alex Flores in 66th with a time of 28:39.
"We are very proud of how hard our team ran and how they set personal and team goals and pushed each other to do their best at these two meets," coach Tiffany Johnson said. "They know what they want to accomplish and they are working hard and doing everything they need to to achieve the goal of making it to state. We are definitely proud of Brandon for winning both of these meets and also of Zachery for placing in both of these meets. It has definitely been enjoyable to watch these boys push each other the last couple of weeks trying to get to where they want to be."
Kimball earned WTC Conference runners up out of 6 teams with a score of 50. Bridgeport won with a score of 46.
In a field of 57 runners Barker again earned 1st place with his winning time of 17:45 and Wagner placed 4th with a time of 18:19.
Just out of the top ten, Kaden Adrian ran 11th with a time of 19:52, followed by Lenzen in 15th with a time of 20:10, Pedersen in 19th with a time of 20:39, Evertson in 22nd with a time of 21:04, Thomas-Lewis in 26th with a time of 21:26, Golding in 54th with a time of 26:02, Flores ran a personal record and came in 55th with a time of 26:31 followed by Portillo 56th with a time of 27:53.
Junior High runners have also improved and competed in a field of 32 runners at WTC.
Thomas Muldoon ran 9th in 10:43, Chris Barker placed 24th in 12:04, Cole Henton was 26th in 12:27, Cole Heim ran 30th in13:43 and Gideon Casimiro finished 31st in 15:10.
The Junior High girls team competed in a field of 30 with Chantel Malson placing 3rd in 11:28, Caelyn Long took 8th in 11:54, Raven Johnson ran 15th in 13:01, Maddison Merryfield followed in 16th with a time of 13:17, Maddie Cook took 19th in 13:41, Reese Spradling ran 20th in 13:44, Katie Heeg placed 26th in 15:40, Alycia Vrbas was 28th in 16:24 and Melai Casimiro finished 29th with a time of 17:55.
"We were very proud of how our athletes competed," coach Tiffany Johnson said. "This was the Jr. High's last meet and they ran very well. Everyone worked hard throughout their season and continually improved."