Northern wins cross country meet
The Gazette Sports Staff
The Northern Heights cross country teams rolled to first-place finishes at the Wamego Invitational Saturday. The girls´ team, currently ranked third in Class 3A, dominated the race with 57 points compared to No. 2 Mission Valley´s total of 99, while the boys´ team edged Riley County with 79 points to 88.
“It was great for us to come out and win,” said Northern Heights coach Kristi Lockyear. “It always nice to come out and win a big meet.”
Amy Van Gundy led the way for the Lady Wildcats, finishing in fourth place with a time of 13 minutes, 7 seconds. In addition, four other runners placed in the top 30, including Karie Orbdou in eighth (13:47), Morgan Howard 10th (13:50), Ashley Johnson 22nd (14:16) and Brenda Pracht 30th (14.33).
Other places and times were Megan Hedberg in 33rd (14:38) and Sarah Lockyear at 37th (14:37).
The girls´ meet consisted of 110 runners and 12 teams, including Olpe and Madison. Although the Eagles did not have a full team, Michelle Stueve did take third and Allison Samuels seventh.
Justin Johnson cruised in the boys´ race, defeating the closest competitor by 38 seconds with a time of 17:13. In addition, Garret Frank recorded a top 10 finish at eighth place in 18:40.
Also, Ryan Marcot was 11th (18:50), Caleb Clock 26th (19:36), Jerod Blaufuss 42nd (20:06) and Randy Redelf 44th (20:07).
The boys´ meet consisted of 17 teams and 137 athletes, including Madison´s Aaron Kennedy, who finished in second place.
The junior varsity squads also competed at the race and Jordan Parks qualifed for the varsity with a time of 21:45 to finish in 33rd place. In addition, Jerrod Comnerford was 40th (22:00), Travis Shafer 50th (22:38) and Brian Jones 57th (23:04).
For the JV girls, Sierra Turner took 44th (17:17) and Amie Jackson 51st (17:37).
Both teams will compete in a home meet Wednesday. The girls´ event begins at 4 p.m. and the boys´ at 4:30 p.m.
