Seniors Emily Christensen (left) and Eme johnson run side by side in their last Ram Invitational cross country meet. Johnson and Christensen are two of Greene County’s top five runners and usually reach the finish line within 15 seconds of each other.Senior Logan Egeland had the best race of his career establishing a new personal record time of 18:49.01 and placing 21st out of 202 runners in his division at the Ram Invitational on September 11.

Rams host huge cross country meet

By SUE RIEDER
sports@beeherald.com

The parking lot north of Linduska Field was a sea of yellow busses when Greene County hosted the biggest cross country meet that head coach Kelly Simpson can remember in Jefferson on September 11. “We had 26 teams, and over 800 runners registered,” said Simpson. “The conditions were wet and muddy some places on the course, but our workers did an excellent job of running a meet this size efficiently.”

The junior high boys and girls completed their two mile run first, and the high school teams were separated into Class A and Class AA. As soon as the last runner of one race had crossed the finish line, the gun went off for the next group. All races finished by running the last 400 meters on the track, so spectators could sit and watch the finishes. After all the races were completed, awards were presented in front of the bleachers, and the public address system was used to announce the top 20 individuals and top two teams in each division. Any person who wanted to see or hear the awards presentation and take pictures had the perfect opportunity to do so.

The Rams participated in Class AA with 10 other teams. Ballard won the girls competition with 41 points and also had the champion runner, Abby Kohut-Jackson, on their squad. The talented junior from Ballard was a 3A fifth place finisher in last year’s state cross country meet and very recently beat Gilbert’s two time state champion Grace Gibbons at a meet in Huxley. Kohut-Jackson completed the 2.48 mile race in 15:.23.23, a full 30 seconds faster than Tiffany Williams from Atlantic. Olivia Hansen was the top Ram finisher, running 17:33.66 and placing 16th, despite finishing the last part of the race without one of her shoes. Olivia’s left shoe got buried in the mud and came off when she ran through a puddle, so she completed the race without it. Right behind Hansen were Eme Johnson, who was 18th in 17:37.53 and Emily Christensen, who crossed the line in 21st place with a time of 17:52.62. Other times figured in Greene County’s team score were Emily Finch 19:02.77(PR) and Noelle Gray 19:10.28. The Rams placed fifth in the team standings behind Ballard, Winterset, Atlantic, and Creston, but ahead of Nevada, Denison, Madrid, Kuemper, Roland-Story, and Perry. Hansen and Johnson received medals for placing in the top 20 of the 137 runners in the Class AA division. Greene County’s other female participants were Jolee Wessling 20:15.92, Regan Lamoureux 20:34.89, Sarah Sandage 21:29.77, Cassidy Adamson 21:37.20, Caytlyn Adamson 22:16.27 (PR), Emma Larson 23:02.37 (PR), Emily Most 23:04.71 (PR), Madisyn Taute 23:05.06, Gabby Sawhill 23:14.39 (PR), and Emily Bettey 24:15.15 (PR).

Winterset, won the Class AA boy’s competition with 69 points. Other team scores were Ballard 76, Kuemper 116, Denison 117, Nevada 142, Creston 142, Atlantic 152, Roland-Story 162, Greene County 226, Perry 240, and Madrid 270. Luke Kohut-Jackson from Ballard was the top runner in Class AA with a time of 16:45.27. The Ram’s top runner was Logan Egeland who established a new personal record running 18:49.01 and placing 21st out of 202 runners in the race. Other scores included in the Ram’s team score were Landon Braun 19:25.56, Abe Yoder 20:42.12, Ethan Woodruff 20:52.64 (PR), and Anthony Cunningham 20:58.03. Greene County’s other male participants were Michael Eischeid 21:44.39 (PR), Nick Killion 23:00.28, Logan Lawson 23:55.52, Nathan Kennedy 24:46.26 (PR), Reid Lamoureux 25:16.19, and Jacob Heuser 27:06.69 (PR).

“For our squad, we managed 11 PR’s, three season’s best times, and had two medalists in a very tough 3A dominated division,” said the coach. “A big meet like this will benefit us later in the season.”

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