The Lowry High School cross country team made its annual trip to Boise, Idaho, last weekend for the Bob Firman Invitational.
The meet is one of the biggest in the West and features schools from a number of states.
Lowry sophomore Jovi Kuskie set a personal best in the girls Division I section A-L race with a time of 19 minutes, 49.1 seconds to finish eighth. Muriel Jones from Jackson High School won the race at 18:53.8. Centennial’s Aubrey Thueson was second at 19:14.2.
“Jovi just keeps on getting better and better,” said LHS coach Kathy Norcutt. “She is learning to race every time she hits the course. What I love about Jovi, is she is really mentally tough.”
Adia Bengochea was 63rd in her first Bob Firman race, in a time of 21:38. Bengochea is in her first season with the Buckaroo cross country team.
Kinsey Albisu-Leibfried (23:39) and Makayla Leveille (23:45) ran together for much of the race and finished 123rd and 128th. There were 180 runners in the race, including runners from Truckee and Elko.
“I was really pleased with Adia,” said the coach. “This was her first 5K. She settled in and raced really well. Now she knows what the distance feels like. She has been a great addition and we will continue to work with her. Kinsey and Makayla stuck together for the entire race. Those two have been working super hard in practice and I have been pleased with the effort they have been putting in. It’s the toughest race they will see all season. It’s good to see different runners from all over.”
Lowry did not have enough runners for a team score. Eagle and Boise tied at the top with 76 points, with Eagle winning the tiebreaker. Bozeman (85) was third followed by Highland (131) and Davis, Utah (143).
On the boys side, Jeremy Walker and Jesse Hawkins each set personal bests. Walker finished 108th with a time of 18:16.7 and Hawkins was 172nd at 19:52.9.
“They both ran really well,” Norcutt said. “Jesse was thrilled to get under 20 minutes. He has been working hard to do that.”
Dylan Nee stopped the watch at 20:14.6 to place 179th and Christopher McGuire (21:00.2) and Cal Peters (21:01.5) were 189th and 190th. Erick Prado (21:55.2) and Tyler Carpenter (22:24.4) rounded out the finishers for the Buckaroos. Carpenter is coming off a broken leg from last year and is getting back in form.
“Dylan set a personal best for the Bob Firman race,” added the coach. “The other guys continue to run well.”
Zac Bright from Idaho Falls won the race with a time of 16:00.1 while Canyon Ridge’s Ryker Holtzen was a close second at 16:04.4.Tyler Mesaros (Bishop Kelly, 16:08), Isaac Halverson (16:08.6, Farrington) and Russell Richardson (Kuna, 16:11.3) rounded out the top five.
Lowry finished 28th in the team standings with 795 points. Elko was 19th with 465 points. Kuna won the team title with 79 points, beating Farrington by one point.
Lowry had two runners compete in the JV boys race, with Tyler Morrison timing in at 21:22.1 and Christopher Esparza at 23:18.8.
Lowry travels to Truckee on Saturday.
“It’s another mountain race with hills,” Norcutt said. “That’s what we will be training for during practice.”
