WINNEMUCCA - The Lowry High School cross country teams got their first taste of competition with a trip to Zephyr Cove and the Sierra Nevada on Friday, Sept. 6, for the Warrior Warpath Cross Country Invite hosted by Whittell High School.
"It turned into a crazy day," said LHS head coach Kathy Norcutt. "It's a tough course to start out with all the hills and creeks you are running through. They got in to a time crunch and ran the varsity boys with the girls. The boys had no time to get loose or warm up, so their times were off a bit."
Richie Bleck led the way for the varsity boys, finishing 26th with a time of 19 minutes, 18 seconds, on the 2.8-mile course. Harley Baker was 32nd with a time of 28:53 and teammate Nate Nelson placed 41st at 20:27.
Devin Morris finished 44th with a time of 20:37, and Ethan Andrews and Luis Brown were 49th and 64th, respectively, with times of 20:38 and 22:04.
"We are concentrating working on our leg speed right now," Norcutt said. "For not having time to prepare, I thought the boys did OK."
The Lowry girls had just three runners in the varsity race and the trio finished together. Jancy Ulch paced the Lady Bucks with a 37th-place finish in a time of 27:36. Haley Weber was 38th at 27:45 and Shannon Munk placed 39th with a time of 27:54.
The Buckaroos had seven runners in the JV boys race, with freshman Kobe Fitzpatrick finishing fifth overall in a time of 16:08.
"Kobe ran a fantastic race," added the coach. "That was a very pleasant surprise to see. He has worked hard in practice and it paid off."
Fellow freshman Chris Kearns turned in a 20th-place finish with a time of 18:15 and Chanse McAllister was 24th at 18:37.
Devin Dowd placed 30th in a time of 20:08, Liam Gallups was 40th at 20:57, Michael Prejean finished 42nd with a time of 21:18 and Lyle Lovell was 50th at 23:15.
The Lady Bucks had two runners finish in the top five in the junior varsity race, with Charice Brown placing in the runner-up spot in a time of 18:37. Jorden Raynor was fifth, stopping the clock at 20:58.
"Charice was another pleasant surprise," Norcutt said. "She ran a great race for us. I was excited for our junior varsity runners. We have some young kids that are looking good. We put Jorden in the JV race just a starting point for her. She is just coming off knee surgery and missed a lot of time last year. We just want to be careful this early in the season."
Alex Ziemer (25:33) and Rebekah Goldblatt (30:31) rounded out the Buckaroo finishes in 24th and 31st-pace, respectively.
Lowry travels back to the mountains today at 3 p.m., making the trip to Tahoe City, Calif., for the North Tahoe Invitational. More than 40 teams will be participating in the race.
"It will be a big meet," Norcutt said. "It will be a good opportunity to see what is out there in the rest of the state. It will be our last race in the mountains, before we start running on flatter courses and adjusting to more speed racing."[[In-content Ad]]
