Slatten Makes Podium at Lawrence Race

The Redskin Cross Country varsity teams traveled to the Lawrence on Saturday for the Rim Rock Classic hosted by the University of Kansas. This meet is one of the largest ones in the Central United States with over 140 teams showing up to compete from seven different states. The course is known for its colorful trees and scenery as well as its many hills causing a challenge for the runners.

The Redskin boys competed in the Crimson division along with about 50 other schools. Senior Obed Quintana led his team finishing in 31^st place with a time of 17:28. Junior Greg McClurg came back from a fall early in the race to be the second Redskin Runner to cross the line with a time of 18:13 in 98^th place. Junior Alex Chance had a time of 18:38 finishing in 142^nd place. Seniors Ivan Aleman and Jerry Valdez ran times of 18:45 and 19:11, with finishes of 149^th and 199^th. Sophomore Juan Beltran crossed the line in 19:14 in 205^th place, while Junior Ryan Doll was 263^rd with a time of 20:13. The Redskins finished in 25^th place just two places behind rival Dodge City and five places ahead of Great Bend. The top three spots in the race were taken by out of State Teams. Webb City won with 178 points, Har-Ber was second with 194, and Central (St. Joseph) third with 288 points. Coach McGuire commented, “Our race plan hurt us a little today. We usually start off a little slower and work our way up throughout the race, but the large number of runners made it hard for our runners to move up.”

The girls’ team competed in the Crimson Division as well. The sophomore trio again led the way for the Redskins. Camryn Slatten continued her impressive season as she made the podium finishing in 14^th place running the 4 kilometer race in 16:38. Saw Ahmara finished the race in 17:00 as the 30^th runner. Yanelly Jurado was the 69^th runner to cross the line with a time of 17:53. Freshman Tania Minjarez crossed the line in 18:23 as the 99^th runner. Senior Allyson Nondorf placed 132^nd with a time of 19:13. Freshman Reyn Slatten clocked a time of 19:29 in 145^th place. Sophomore Karen Hernandez placed 165^th place running the course in 20:22. The girls’ team finished the race in 11^th place. The top three teams were Rogers Arkansas, Lenexa St. James Academy, and Valley Center.

The J.V. runners competed last Thursday in the Goddard Invitational which was ran at Lake Afton. The J.V. runners ran in the varsity division and each team had a runner break into the top twenty. Freshman Kelsey Ramsey placed 20^th in the varsity girls race, and Freshman Dusty Torres placed 20^th in the boys’ varsity race.

All the Cross Country runners will travel to Newton next Saturday for Varsity, Junior Varsity, and C team races. Teams competing next week will include Andover Central, Buhler, Dodge City, Goddard, Goddard Eisenhower, El Dorado, McPherson, Newton, Valley Center, Wamego, Washburn Rural, Wichita East, and Wichita North.