Meeker harriers perform well at Anna Banana Memorial

MEEKER | Fruita hosted Meeker, as well as 17 other teams, at Saturday’s Anna Banana Memorial Invitational. The course, run at Connected Lakes State Park in Grand Junction, is well known as one of the fastest of the season, and is a favorite of many runners. The Meeker team came out strong, with eight of our 11 racers posting new personal records. The girls’ race was first this week, and Julia Eskelson finished strong, 25th overall, in 20:32. Lacey Ford got her first taste of this course with a 26:50 and 113th place. The boys’ race had a rough start—three starts, in fact—as the field was brought back to the line twice for fallen runners. Once they got going, however, the racers certainly went fast. Austin Russell had a great showing, with a 12th place finish, in at 16:31. Tannen Kennedy was Meeker’s second, in 19:01, at 101st. Josh Cochran, Meeker’s third scorer, finished in 120th place, in 19:41. Clay Anderson and Pake Burke displayed some solid team running, with times of 20:32 and 20:34, for 137th and 138th places, respectively. Christopher Strate was our sixth racer to the finish, in 149th place at 22:34. Alex Murray was our seventh scorer, completing the course in 25:32, good for 161st. Josh Dinwiddie and Zach Harman both continued to show improvement, with Josh at 27:54, and Zach in at 29:11, placing 164th and 167th. Our Cowboys placed 13th in the team rankings. “Everyone loves this race, and I am excited to see what our kids can do with such competition. Their work is paying off, and I look forward to the season ahead,” said coach Marty Casey. Meeker cross country has two meets this weekend: Friday at Sweitzer Lake in Delta, with races starting at 10 a.m., and the team travels to Craig for the Moffat County Invitational on Saturday.