RANGELY I The Rangely cross country team stayed close to home this past weekend and competed in the Moffat County Cross Country Invitational, a small meet with just Moffat County, Steamboat Springs, Rawlins and Rangely competing.
The meet started out with the middle school running first. Rangely had two runners. Chloe Filfred, a seventh grader who placed 16th with a time of 16:56, and Ben Nielsen, a sixth grader who placed 18th with a time of 17:12.
Coach Beth Scoggins thought the runners did well considering this is just their third meet of the season. The runners are young and are still just trying to figure out how fast they can run while realizing that each course is different, offering different distances.
The girls were the next to compete with Savannah Nielsen leading the way with a time of 24:39 and coming in 15th place. Rebecca Gillard was only five places behind Nielsen, coming in 20th and a time of 28:44.
The boys were missing two of their runners but had Austin Ficken debuting in his first cross country meet.
Patrick Scoggins took off hard at the beginning of the race and was able to hold on to the lead to finish first with a time of 18:16. Zach Glasgow had a great race, placing 11th with a time of 20:27. James Scoggins placed 17th with a time of 21:23, and he was followed by Brennan, coming in 23rd with a time of 22:24. Ficken finished the race in 33rd place with a time of 26:32.
This was a good course since it gave the runners a chance to see what they could do running up a hill. The runners are progressing well and it will be fun to see what they can do in the next couple of weeks. Rangely will be taking this week off but will resume on Oct. 4 in Aspen.