Much drier than last week, the harriers found the weather to be perfect, the course to be fast and the competition to be swift. There were 24 schools at the event, which included 5-kilometer (3.2-mile) races for the varsity runners, JV runners as well as a 3K (1.9-mile) middle school race.
There were 114 varsity girls who began the day on the flat course that weaves along the rivers and lakes of Confluence Park, and Savannah Nielsen led the way for the Panthers with a new best time of 24:15, finishing in 78th place. Rebecca Gillard also finished the day with a new personal best time of 27:37, finishing in 106th place.
The boys were lead by Patrick Scoggins, who finished the course in a time of 17:29, earning him a 20th-place finish in a race with 147 runners.
Mitchell Webber, the No. 2 runner for Rangely, was a little under the weather but still completed the course in a time of 19:56, earning him a 101st-place finish. Running in a pack not too far behind were Zackary Glasgow, Brennan Noyes, James Scoggins, and Daniel Connor, who all finished the course with personal bests, sporting times of 21:21, 21:34, 21:35, and 21:41, respectively.
New to the racing circuit, Rangely sixth grader Ben Nielsen ran his first cross country race in the middle school division with 43 other sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade boys. Nielsen completed the 3,000-meter course in a time of 13:56.
Coach Matt Scoggins was pleased with the overall performance of the runners and very excited to see so many personal bests among the distance runners.
Rangely’s next meet will be this weekend at the Basalt Longhorn Cross Country Invitatation.
