MHS runs well in Anna Banana meet

MEEKER I Fruita Monument High School’s reputation for having one of the fastest courses in the state was proven correct for several Meeker High School cross country runners in the annual Anna Banana Invitational on Saturday.
“Our athletes ran well, with most of them putting up their best times of the season,” head coach Marty Casey said of the meet named after Anna Janowitz, who was killed in an automobile accident on her way to cross country practice in 2002. “Many took more than a minute off of their previous best time,” he said.
“Caleb (Lange) again led our varsity boys with a 40th finish and his best time (18:09) of the season,” Casey said. “Julia (Eskelson) was our only runner for the girls’ varsity and she had a great race, breaking the 21 minute mark (20:56) for the first time this season and a 29th place finish.”
Abbi Ibach and Katie Harman also had person bests in the JV race, dropping three and four minutes off their respective times.
Anthony Watt (21:08), Bailey Mantle (21:32), Aaron Cochran (21:51) and Clay Anderson (22:21) also ran on the varsity team for the Cowboys, and Justin Lawson (25:53) ran in the JV race, all improved.
“Anthony lowered his time by almost 30 seconds while Bailey and Clay each knocked off more than a minute,” Casey said. “Aaron has been dealing with some injuries of late but still managed to run almost 30 seconds better than at our previous meet. Justin dropped under the 30-minute mark for the first time and did so by more than four minutes.”
The teams will travel to Aspen on Saturday for the Chris Severy Invitational, starting at 9:30 a.m.
“I am very pleased with the effort by all and am excited to see how much more improvement we can make by season’s end,” Casey said.