Cottey College Cross Country Invitational

On Friday, September 13, the El Dorado Springs Cross Country team loaded up and headed to the Frank E. Peters Golf Course in Nevada for the Cottey College Cross Country Invitational.

The middle school race was up first at 5:30 pm.  The middle school girls team was led by 8th Grader, Grace Seitz who found herself in 1st, winning the 2 mile race with a personal best time of 14:23.30.  6th Grader, Paityn Ridgway, tapping into her Wonder Woman powers, donning her Wonder Woman socks (Capes included), finished 7th with a personal best time of 15:54.10.  Also running for the middle school girls team was Alayna Coleman who just missed the medals in 11th and Paisley Brown.

On the boys side in the middle school division, 8th Grader Rylan Coleman led the way winning the race with a personal best time of 11:54.  Not too far back, in 3rd place was 7th Grader Tucker Orr with a personal best time of 12:18 followed shortly after in 4th place by 8th Grader Carter Smith with a personal best time of 12:28.  8th Grader Camden Watts rounded out the medals for the middle school boys, finishing in 10th place with a personal best time of 13:30, with Boston Lamb just missing the medals in 11th with a personal best time of 14:20.  These 5 runners were joined by Jaxen Simmons, Talon Parcel, Alex Melech, Bradley Smith and Camdynn Penington to find themselves winning the Team Title in the Middle School Boys competition.

The high school girls team did not race today, leaving the final race to the high school boys team.  Sophomore Wyatt Klaiber led the way from start to finish, winning the race for the Bulldogs with a respectable time of 15:56.70.  Braxton Watts found himself in 3rd finishing with a time of 17:19.  The Bulldogs also saw Sophomores Wyatt Strawn and Wilson Burchett put up good performances.  In the end the Bulldogs were short two runners, due to injuries and were not able to compete as a team.

Overall, it was a great day, where we saw 13 of the 18 participants run Personal Best performances, with the others running considerably faster than they did at this course last year.  So, given our first afternoon race of the season, the Bulldogs really answered and ended with a Job Well Done!!  Next up for the High School team will be a race in Joplin on Saturday, September 21 on the campus of Missouri Southern for the Missouri Southern Stampede.  Middle School will have the week off, not racing until the following weekend in Hermitage.