The Rye High School boys’ cross-country team placed 4th in their own invitational last Friday. Rocky Ford won the team championship and Josh Snyder, Rocky Ford, won the individual title with a time of 17:08.12.
David Maroney ran a season best race with a time of 18:40.67 and a 6th place finish in the event. That was Maroney’s first sub-19minute effort of the year.
Timothy Blackhurst also registered a season best mark of 20:26.89 to place 22nd.
Garret George finished 28th of the 67 runners who finished the event, in a time of 21:18.51. Teammate Colton Hendrickson was right behind George in 29th with a time of 21:19.79. Thomas Blackhurst also had a season best time of 24:54.94 to place 52nd and Carter Ford placed 62nd in a time of 27:40.06.
Maroney, the Blackhurst brothers, and Carter Ford are all freshmen.
Mylee Garner led the Thunderbolt girls with an 11th place finish in a time of 25:55.99, a season best effort for Garner. Gold medalist I Ma of Fountain won the event in a time of 20:22.95.
Fountain was also the team gold medalist.
After Garner for the locals, Clara Chandler placed 35th of the 45 runners who finished with a time of 31:06.32.
Gwendolyn Larson had a season best time of 36:16.00 and placed 42nd.
Craver Middle School had four runners in the two-mile event. Of the 60 runners who finished, Evan Taylor was 20th with a time of 14:52.55; Derek Taylor was 30th with a time of 15:53.52; Mathius Lopez was 49th with a time of 22:02.92; and Matthew Bair was 56th with a time of 24:16.49.
“I was very pleased with the way the kids ran this week,” shared Head Coach T.J.
Blackhurst. “I feel like we are definitely trending in the right direction. In practice the kids have been working really hard and I’ve been trying to get them out of their comfort zones.”
Blackhurst continued, “They have all responded very well, and I am looking forward to some more fast times this week. Thursday we will run at the Royal Gorge where there will be 28 teams and about 200 runners in each race, and then a short turnaround as we head to Salida. Salida is a tough course so I’m not expecting many personal records there, but just hoping our kids will get out there and compete.”
Blackhurst expressed his thanks for the people who helped make the home meet a success. “I wanted to thank all of the volunteers, especially Karen Hopkins and Maggie DiMatteo. Phillip Spicer (teaching pro at Hollydot) was an amazing host.”