BMS XC runs on home course

Saturday morning was a beautiful day for a junior high cross country meet. The Cowboy athletes prepared the course Friday morning with a multitude of colorful flags starting outside the track, through the middle school practice fields, over to the Rec Center and finishing on the track.

To assure no runners were lost during the race, our volunteer coach, Owen Hanneman, led the race on his bike. Athletes from Craig, Soroco, and Rangely joined the Meeker teams on the 1.91 mile course. The girls’ race kicked off at 10 a.m. with a solo female runner this year, Skylar Grimes. This was her first race for the season, returning from early injuries. “We were excited to have her back running and she did an excellent job,” commented head coach Kris Casey. She finished eighth in a field of 14 with a time of 19 minutes 28.53 seconds, bettering her time on this course last year by two minutes. The boys’ race featured a strong field of runners. Ashton Tapia was once again the Cowboy top finisher and this week he worked his way into the top three. Placing third with a time of 14:20.69. About a minute later Dexter Chinn and Brad Nielsen came across the finish line in seventh and eighth. Chinn at 15:30.09, and Neilson at 15:38.21; who cut about a minute off his time from last year. Next came Hoyt Garcia in 12th place in a time of 16:45.72 and Jonan VonRoenn 13th in 17:10.77.

Ryan Hanberg completed the course in 17:30 placing 15th. The last Meeker runner to cross the finish line is new team member Lucas Robinson. For his debut run, he finished 19th in a time of 25:12.94. “Coach Owen and I are super excited about all the hard work these athletes have been putting in, said Casey. “They are making great improvements each week! We also want to thank all the volunteers who helped make our meet run smoothly, without them a home meet is not possible.” This next week BMS will be in Craig with the high school and then will finish the season back in Meeker on Oct. 1.

Special to the Herald Times