After an extra week off due to a canceled meet, the Lowry High School cross country team was back in action on Friday, Sept. 15, in Dayton.
The Buckaroo runners shined on the day, as Becca Kuskie won the girls race and the Lowry boys won the team title over Fernley.
“It was nice to get back to racing,” said LHS coach Kathy Norcutt. “Dayton is kind of a hard course. It’s dusty, it’s usually hot and there is a good hill on the course. The kids ran well.”
Kuskie stopped the clocked at 21 minutes, 23 seconds to win the individual title. She beat out an Incline runner. Makayla Leveille placed sixth for the Lady Bucks at 24:01 and Kinsey Albisu was eighth at 25:36.
“For all three of our girls to be in the top eight was huge,” Norcutt said. “Becca ran a super-smart race. There was a girl from Incline that was a state qualifier from last year. She took the early lead, but Becca knows what time she wants to run. She checked her watch and saw the pace was too slow and did her own thing. Makayla has a time she wants to hit as well and was pushing during the race. Kinsey has been tough as a freshman. She had a good start and hung on.”
On the boys side, Will Kracaw and Robert Rangel were second and third, respectively.
Kracaw, a junior, finished at 18:02 and has his sights set on another trip to the state championships. Rangel, a freshmen, excelled in just his second high school race with a time of 18:17.
“The boys ran a great race,” said Norcutt. “They all have been working really hard. “You look at the times from last year to now and they are a couple minutes quicker. Robert was a nice surprise for us. He has stepped up as a freshman.”
Hunter Albisu, one of the three seniors on the squad, was ninth in a time of 19:14. Teammate Christian Olson was just out of the top 10, placing 11th at 19:41. Josh Leveille (20:44) and Caden Rorex (21:00) were 18th and 20th, respectively.
“Hunter and Christian really stepped up and ran great races,” added the coach. “We were neck and neck with Fernley at the end. It came down to Josh passing a Fernley kid in front of him. Caden did the same thing. We surprised Fernley with the way we finished. We had not been in that position to win in along time. It just gives the boys a big confidence boost. They have working so hard.”
Freshman Alex Herrera was 27th with a time of 22:08, and fellow freshman Chris McGuire was 28th at 22:12. Bryan Day placed 29th at 22:19 and Christopher Esparza was 32nd at 22:37. Kylen Timko was 39th at 24:55, Braden Thomas finished 46th at 32:30 and Christopher Fly-Knopf was 47th with a time of 33:53.
Lowry will travel to Boise, Idaho on Saturday for the Bob Firman Invitational.
The meet is one of the biggest in the area and features the top high school and college teams from around the west.
“This race gives the kids a chance to see some different runners,” Norcutt said. We are in the Division I race, so we will see the best of the best. It will be good for us. We are not going to worry about places. The kids have times they want hit and that is what we are racing for.”
