After taking a couple weeks off, it is full steam ahead for the Lowry High School cross country team for the rest of the fall.
The Buckaroos headed to the Sierra Nevada mountains last Friday for the North Tahoe Kiwanis Mountain Motivational Invitational in Tahoe City, Calif.
“We had a great day of racing,” said LHS coach Kathy Norcutt. “Both my freshmen girls medaled.”
Sophomore Jovi Kuskie picked up from where she left off in the opening race of the season in Gardnerville. She won the 3.3-mile varsity girls race in a time of 25 minutes, 6:69 seconds. She dueled Mammoth’s Jordyn Harper for much of the race, pulling away late to win by nearly three seconds.
“Jovi won in a heated battle,” Norcutt said. “The girl she beat from Mammoth is a fierce competitor. The race came down to the final 400 meters with Jovi out kicking her at the end. It was very exciting.”
Mammoth’s Rhona McChensey was third at 26:23.55, Jennifer Ruiz from Modoc was fourth at 26:37.72 and Calaveras’ Katrina Borchin (26:42.34) rounded out the top five.
Lowry’s Kinsey Albisu-Leibfried was 10th in a time of 29:02.44 and Makayla Leveille was 20th at 30:25.38.
“Both were able to medal,” added the coach. “They ran very tough on the hilly course.”
Mammoth won the team title with 26 points, while North Tahoe was second with 41 points. Wooster (65) and Bret Harte (82) were third and fourth, respectively.
Freshmen Taylor Hawkins and Ryleigh Raabe were 10th and 11th, respectively, in the 2.8-mile freshmen and sophomore race. Hawkins had a time of 28:38.25 and Raabe stopped the clock at 28:57.38. Churchill County’s Savanna Regli (24:53.82) and Zoey Brown (25:50.76) were first and second.
On the boys side, Jeremy Walker paced the Buckaroos in the 3.3-mile varsity race with a 21st-place finish in a time of 23:20.97.
“He had a rough start but was able to was able to work his way up into meadling,” Norcutt said.
Dylan Nee was 61st in a time of 25:57.09 and Jesse Hawkins was 65th at 26:11.15. Cal Peters placed 77th with a time of 27:23.56, Christopher McGuire was 80th at 27:49.94, Erick Prado was 89th (28:45.34) and Tyler Carpenter was 92nd in a time of 29:32.43.
“Dylan had a great race,” said the coach. “This past week, we really focused on running hills and our boys looked really tough on the hills on the course.”
Calaveras’ Jacob Christopher won the race with a time of 21:32, while Pacific Grove’s Will Stefanou was second at 21:38.78.
Calaveras won the team title with 40 points and Pacific Grove (73) was second. Mammoth (75), North Tahoe (118) and Bret Harte (118) rounded out the top five.
Kalib Gordon was the only Buckaroo boy in what was suppose to be a 2.8-mile freshmen race and he placed 19th in a time of 19:46.15.
“The leaders took a wrong turn and they ended up only running 1.8 miles,” Norcutt said. “It was kind of a disaster.”
Lowry travels to Boise, Idaho, this weekend for the Bob Firman Invitational.
“We are working on pack running and we did a good job of sticking close.” Norcutt said. “We will continue to work on running close and pushing each other. I felt like it was a great day for Lowry.”
