RANGELY I The Rangely High School cross-country runners adventured to Gunnison for the Mountaineers Meet, where several of the Panthers turned in much-improved times.
The morning started off with middle school runner Timothy Scoggins running a two-mile race with a time of 17:30, improving by 1:36 since his last meet in Delta a couple of weeks ago.
The runners then had the opportunity to watch college athletes from Western State run in a collegiate race.
“It was a good seeing some of the athletes who had graduated from around the area run in a collegiate race,” Panther head coach Beth Scoggins said. “I hope that seeing them perform will spark an interest in Rangely runners to pursue a college education and see that running can help them get there.”
Shortly after the college race, it was the boys’ turn to see what they could do.
Sophomore Patrick Scoggins lead the Panthers to take sixth place with a time of 18:01, 42 seconds faster than last year.
RHS sophomore Cameron Filfred came in next with a time of 27:23 and Panther newcomer Caleb Lawson came in with a time of 27:38.
“This is always a tough course, with the high altitude, lots of curves and soft terrain,” Scoggins said. “It is a chance for the athletes to see how they handle all the different elements of a cross-country race at once.”
Junior Savannah Nielsen led the girls with a time of 25:06; 30 seconds faster than last year. Freshman Raelynn Norman was the next Panther runner to follow with a time of 25:47, which is a new personal record.
Miekka Peck, a sopohomore , had a great race with a time of 32:39, which is an improvement by 1 minute and 47 seconds.
The RHS distance team will be running in the the Anna Banana Memorial Wildcat Invitational on Saturday at Connected Lakes.
