The Lowry High School cross country team split up for the final week of the regular season with a pair of meets.
Freshman Natalee Formby was the lone Buckaroo runner at the Northeast Nevada Championships in Spring Creek on Thursday, Oct. 21.
Formby was third in the girls race with a time of 24 minutes, 5.63 seconds, missing out on second by .17 seconds in a photo finish. It was also a personal-best time for the freshman.
“Natalee ran a very tough race that was a nail-biter until the very end,” said LHS coach Kathy Norcutt. “It was so close that it was hard to tell who finished ahead of whom. We’re very proud of Natalee’s performance. She made the Spring Creek athlete earn it.”
Spring Creek’s Ryan Youngblood (23:13.43) and Leigh Berry (24:05.46) were first and second, respectively.
Spring Creek runners were also fourth, fifth, ninth and 10th to win the team title. The Spartans were the only school to have a team score.
The rest of the Buckaroos traveled to Carson City this past Friday for the Sierra Lutheran High School Dave Marson Trail Race.
Conditions were less than ideal on the hilly course, with cold conditions, along with rain and wind.
“The kids have worked hard on hills all year, so it really didn’t faze them,” added the coach. “They are awesome hill runners.”
Senior Jovi Kuskie continued her late-season dominance, winning the race by nearly three minutes.
She stopped the clock at 21:28,38, as Dayton’s Whitney Winward was second at 24:14.49.
“Jovi looked very strong in the hills and had an impressive finish,” Norcutt said. “She had a great finish to the regular season and looks strong as we head into regionals this week.”
Virginia City’s Kalia Anchors was third at 24:49.68 and Wooster’s Avery Redmon (25:13.60) and Sierra Lutheran’s Saige Gregory (25:31.78) rounded out the top five.
Coral Academy out of Reno was the only school to post a team score.
On the boys side, Lowry had three runners finish in the top five, paced by senior Eduardo Martinez-Calderon, who earned the runner-up spot at 19:17.66. South Tahoe’s Max Menke won the race at 18:54.45.
“Eduardo had a great start and was able to maintain his position during the course of the race,” added the coach.
Lowry’s Ivan Lara was fourth in a time of 20:07.68 and Angel Huerta was fifth at 20:46.12. Senior Tyler Morrison was 13th in a time of 22:01.58, as the Buckaroos had just four boys run the race.
“Ivan really worked the hills. He was able to maintain his form and worked to hold his position,” Norcutt said. “Angel is always so mentally tough and always gives 100%. He did a fantastic job. Tyler knows how important it is to stay close to his teammates. He did a great job of maintaining close contact. Tyler ran with a lot of heart on a tough course.”
Sierra Lutheran won the boys team title with 26 points, followed by Coral Academy 939), Dayton (59) and Wooster (93).
Lowry heads to Sparks on Friday and the Shadow Mountain Course at Reed High School for the Northern 3A Regional Championships.
The Northern 3A boys will run at 11:10 a.m. The 5A boys kick off the day at 10 a.m., followed by the 2A at 10:35 a.m.
The Northern 3A girls run at 1:40 p.m., with the 5A girls at 12:20 p.m. and the 2A running at 1 p.m.
The top four teams from the Northern 3A Regional Championships and the top four teams from the Southern 3A Regional Championships advance to the eight-team Class 3A state championship meet.
The top seven individuals from non-qualifying state meet teams qualify for the state championships.
The NIAA State Championships will be back at Shadow Mountain on Saturday, Nov. 6.
“We are hopeful that we’ll have a full boys team for the regional meet and will work on fine tuning our training so that we’re ready to hit it on Friday,” Norcutt said.
