Special words from Cross Country Coach Chad Craghead. #ThunderbirdProud #LiveYourDash
On 09-16-17 the NCXC Program competed at the 31 Annual Fulton Invitational on an unseasonably hot day. This is by far the toughest and biggest meet we compete in. We ran against a total of 749 other runners from over 30 teams and from every class offered in XC (Class 1 – Class 4). So to say the competition is tough is an understatement, it flat rocks. As a coach it really fun to see such great runners from all over the state and competing against state ranked teams.
The first race of the day was the JH Boys 2500 meter race. Our boys finished 14th out of 22 full teams, competing with 227 other runners. Leading the way was Jude Green 45th – 10:31.13. Others competing were Dayton Kiel 53rd – 10:41.88, Gavin Rasmussen 91st – 11:20.39, Brendan Reinhard 92nd – 11:21.42, and Carson Safranski 188th – 13:22.85
The second race of the day was the JH Girls 2500 meter race, featuring 145 runners. We did not have enough runners to compete as a team, so there was no team score. The Lady Birds had one runner get a medal. Rachael Jeffries finished 17th with a time of 11:13.24 to lead the team. Other competing were Hannah Cundiff 37th – 11:54.91, Alana Todd 89th – 13:21.55, and Piper Jeffries 116th 14:01.
Event 3 was the Boys 5k Varsity Race. This race featured 145 runners with 21 full teams competing. I featured ranked runners from Class 1, 2, and 3. Leading the way for the Thunderbirds was Khobi Kellerman 65th – 20:09.04. Others competing were Ean Rohrbach 105th – 21:39.43, Grant Eichman 108th – 21:48.84, Joseph Crawford 132nd – 23:36.01, Josh McCowan 135th – 24:25.20, Noah Scrogum 137th – 24:53.18, and Josh Craghead 141st – 26:41.74. Not competing today Jared Bailey and Justin Coffman, but both should be back on the next meet.
Event 4 was the Girls 5k Varsity Race and it featured 130 racers. This race featured the top ranked team in class 2 and the top ranked team in class 3 as well as state ranked individuals. The Lady Birds came out with 3 top 14 performances and placed 7th as a team. Daelyn Schmauch still did not compete with the team, but should be back the next meet. Leading the way for the Lady Birds with a 11th place finish was Kyla Bertschinger with a time of 21:52.88. Others medaling for the Lady Birds was, Reyna Schmauch 13th – 21:57.15, and Kaleigh Moore 15th – 22:05.79/ Other participating were Julisa Moreno 87th – 27:25.75, Brianna Douglas 89th – 27:35.66, Olivia Isaacks 90th – 27:37.40, and Alyssa Rinehart – 92nd – 27:40.
The last race of the day featured the 5k JV girls’ race. This race had 55 runners in it. Competing for the Lady Birds was Brooke Fischer 20th – 27:44.16 and Christa Gilman 46th -34:03.21