Cross country runners continue to show improvement

MEEKER I Cowboys runners continue to improve their times as the state-qualifying regional meet gets closer on the schedule.
Six Meeker cross country members ran in Fruita last Saturday in the Anna Banana Memorial Wildcat invitational and two boys finished with personal bests. The Cowboys have one more meet before the regional tournament Oct. 24.
“The course was fast and the meet has great competition from western slope teams and once again we were the smallest team to compete,” assistant coach Carly Thomson said. “Our runners took advantage of the fast course and William Scoggins and Lathrop Hughes both posted personal bests for the season.”
Scoggins ran the 3.1-mile course in a time of 18:57, breaking the 19-minute barrier to finish 49th in a field of 129 runners.
“William had another great race,” Thomson said. “We are impressed with his improvements each week.”
Hughes also impressed his coach with his personal best time of 19:58, which he did without his running partner, Ean Barrow, who did not compete in Fruita.
“In other meets, Lathrop and Ean run as a pack and push each other to run faster, unfortunately, we decided to no run Ean because of shin splints,” Thomson said. “Under these circumstances, Lathrop did an excellent job of pushing himself.”
Alex Smith also took time off, finishing the race in 22:40 and showing improvement in his running form, according to his coach.
Erica Roybal ran the race in 24:21, again leading the Meeker girls.
“Erica looked very strong throughout the race,” Thomson said.
Freshman Peyre Walter ran the course in 31:29, eight seconds from a personal best time. Classmate Savannah Johnson was unable to finish.
“We have high hopes for Savannah, she is a great competitor,” Thomson said.
Meeker will compete in Aspen at the Chris Severy Invitational onSaturday.
“This course is very difficult and our kids will probably not be running their best times of the season but we will have the opportunity to compete against runners in our region, which will be very important for our regional meet in two weeks,” Thomson said.