For the first time this year, the Lowry High School cross country team competed as one group in each of the boys and girls division in the regular-season finale on Friday afternoon at Chimney Creek Golf Course in Wells.
“It was blustery and cold race but the kids still ran well,” said LHS coach Kathy Norcutt. “We trained throughout the week with not much rest. The boys had four personal-best times.”
The Lady Bucks finished third as a team and was paced by sophomore Jovi Kuskie, who placed third overall in a time of 19 minutes, 59 seconds. Spring Creek’s Kendra Lusk won with a time of 19:25 and Charlize Lawson (19:42) from Mountain Home, Idaho, was second.
Junior Adia Bengochea just missed out on a top-five finish, placing sixth with a time of 21:13. Mountain Home’s Julia Gilbert was fifth at 21:00.
After missing her home meet due to a foot injury, Kinsey Albisu-Leibfried was 18th overall in a time of 23:22. Makayla Leveille (23:51) was 21st and freshman Taylor Hawkins in her first varsity race, was 23rd at 24:11. Fellow freshman Ryleigh Raabe was 32nd in her first varsity race with a time of 26:06.
“Adia, Taylor and Ryleigh all had their second-fastest time of the season,” Norcutt said. “Makayla worked the entire race and moved up to helped with scoring. Kinsey was coming off an injury and came in with a time that was close to what she was running before. So she didn’t lose much conditioning.”
Spring Creek won the team title with 30 points and Mountain Home (47) was second. Lowry (68) and Elko (86) were third and fourth, respectively.
“We were able to beat Elko and that has been a goal all season,” Norcutt said. “The freshmen girls ran very tough. It was definitely a team effort that helped beat Elko.”
On the boys side, junior Jeremy Walker continued to lead the Buckaroo boys and he was seventh overall in a time of 17:46.
Jacob Criddle of Mountain home won the race at 16:44. Spring Creek’s Secody Charley was second with a time of 17:05.
Cal Peters (19:53) and Dylan Nee (19:54) finished back-to-back in 35th and 36th place. Christopher McGuire was 44th with a time of 20:09 and Jesse Hawkins (21:04) finished 53rd. Tyler Morrison stopped the watch at 21:40 and Erick Prado (21:39) and Tyler Carpenter (21:40) finished together. Christopher Esparza (22:04) and Kalib Gordon (24:30) rounded out the Lowry finishers.
“Dylan, Erick, Tyler (Carpenter) and Kalib all ran their best times so far,” added the coach. “Christopher (McGuire) ran a season-best time and Jeremy, Jesse, Call and Chris (Esparza) ran their second-fastest time of the year. I was very happy with the effort the boys put into the race. They didn’t have the best of starts, but they all worked up in the middle of the race and they had good, strong finishes.”
A portion of the Lowry cross country team will be in Spring Creek on Thursday for the Northeastern Nevada JV Championships.
Lowry heads to Reno and Rancho San Rafael Park on Saturday, Nov. 2, for the Northern 3A Regional Championships. The 3A girls run at 10 a.m. and the 3A boys hit the course at 12:15 p.m. The top three finishing teams advance to the state championships. The top seven individuals on non-qualifying teams also advance to the state meet.
