LHS Cross Country Opens Season at Perryton

The Liberal High School cross country teams competed in Perryton, Texas Saturday morning at

the Wolf Creek Classic. The Redskins shared the course with schools from Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas

as 35 girl teams and 30 boy teams competed in the meet. This was the first meet for the Redskins while

many of the Oklahoma and Texas teams have been competing for several weeks.

The varsity girls kicked off their season with some high expectations after returning the entire

varsity roster from last year. Junior Camryn Slatten jumped out to a big lead to build on her great

sophomore season when she won a WAC championship, Regional championship, and earn All-State and

All-American honors. The race quickly turned from excitement to disappointment for Slatten as she

stepped into a hole and fell, twisting her ankle about a half mile into the race. After Slatten was able to

get up and try to run again she found herself in 15

th

place with a mile and half left. Slatten was able to

push through the pain and finished in 7

th

place with a time of 13:33 for the 2 mile course. Unfortunately,

the fall may keep Slatten out of a couple of meets as she was diagnosed with a severe sprain. Junior Saw

Ahmara was the only other Lady Redskin to finish in the top twenty crossing the line in 18

th

place with a

14:13 finish. Sophomore Kelsey Ramsey finished the course in 14:44 to finish in 37

th

. Juniors Chloe

Alling, Karen Hernandez, and Yanelly Jurado finished in 40

th

, 48

th

, and 51

st

with times of 14:45, 14:57, and

15:06, respectively. Senior Gaby Amparan in her first ever cross country race completed the course in

16:31 and 95

th

place. After all the runners were tallied, the Redskins finished with 130 points which was

good enough for third place behind Dalhart, Texas and Dodge City.

The boys’ varsity team knew they would have some big shoes to fill after losing four varsity

runners from last year. Junior Edgar Moreno, in his first cross country race since his freshman year, ran

off the rust from the sound of the gun. Moreno who helped the cross country team to a WAC

championship as a freshman, led the team Saturday as he was the third runner to cross the line in the

three mile race with a time of 17:11. After the race Moreno said, “I am glad to be back out for cross

country. I am going to stay motivated all season. I had a bad race today but I am not going to look back

and just look forward and stay humble.” Seniors Greg McClurg and Alex Chance also cracked the top

twenty finishing in 10

th

and 12

th

with times of 17:46 and 17:52. Senior Emilio Tovilla who missed most of

last season with an injury got back into the swing of things crossing the line in 18:36 as the 24

th

runner.

Senior Ryan Doll completed the course in 18:48 in 27

th

place. Junior Juan Beltran finished in 32

nd

place in

19:02, while Freshman Keylan Cruz was the 40

th

runner with a time of 19:27. The Redskins ended the

day in second place with Guymon winning the team title.

The JV teams had some success as Sophomore Tania Minjarez won the JV race in a time of 14:42.

The girls JV finished in 5

th

place. On the boys side Freshman Antonio Borunda was the runner up with a

time of 18:31. While freshman teammates Joel Obando, Josh Diazdeleon, and Javier Carillo, all finished

in the top twenty in 6

th

, 11

th

, and 18

th

with times of 19:24, 19:58, and 20:24, respectively. The boys JV

team finished second place.

The Redskins will travel to Hesston Kansas Thursday for the Swather Special where there are

currently 49 schools registered.