By William / http://www.mcpherson-county-ks.com

GYPSUM – The Smoky Valley cross country teams took to the road to the Southeast of Saline Invitational and both the Viking Boys and Lady Vikings came home with third-place trophies.

“This is a fun meet that is relatively handy and on a course that adults have an easier time watching at several junctures and most of our kids seem to enjoy running,” explained Viking head cross country coach Jay Myers. “Several called it a ‘fast’ course today, it’s about time. We worked on ‘finishing races’ with the kids on Monday as part of their workout as we still have some on all levels who need to learn to run THROUGH the finish line and then begin to motor down.”

For the Lady Vikings, the team finished third with 91 points behind first place Southeast of Saline with 33 and Wichita Trinity with 88. Salina Sacred Heart and Minneapolis rounded out the top five of the eight teams competing.

Individually, Gracie Lambert and Keira Mullen led the Smoky Valley girls with Lambert finishing second while Mullen placed eighth. Sophia Fruits ran 18th to also place in the top-20 of 64 runners.

Esther Clark was the lone Lady Viking running the junior varsity race and she placed fifth out of 26 girls.

Coach Myers continued his post meet reflections by saying, “We have been working on surging around once a week in practice and it worked for some to try it today as part of their race strategy. I have never understood those who run distance who are content to stay in a pace rut so, we’ve been actively trying to put in practice components to help with change of pace ideas.”

In the boys competition, it was much the same as Wichita Trinity won the team championship with 35 points while Southeast of Saline was second with 50 and the Viking boys came in third with 90. Berean Academy finished fourth while Hesston and Ell-Saline tied for fifth out of the 12 teams running.

Tytus Reed was the lone Viking to finish in the top-10 as he placed 9th out of 90 runners. Garrett Huffman and Justice Gardner both placed in the top-20 with Huffman landing in 16th and Gardner running 20th.

Concluding his post-meet reflections, Coach Myers added, “Last year, our boys knocked Wichita Trinity out of a state berth and Trinity and Southeast of Saline’s girls knocked our Lady Vikings out of a trip to state. Today, Wichita Trinity won the boys’ meet going away and just stamped themselves as Class 3A favorites although Southeast of Saline is not going anywhere. We were happy to be third today. We have areas to get better all over the place. Both teams have work to do. Our Lady Vikings took third and we don’t see anybody foreseeable beating Southeast of Saline in any Class 3A meet. Just looking at where we can catch them, and it’s doable, is going to be fun for our girls.”

Next up for the Smoky Valley cross country runners will be on Thursday, September 30 when they compete at the Halstead Invitational.

SMOKY VALLEY LADY VIKINGS:

Team Standings = 1. Southeast of Saline 35; 2. Wichita Trinity 88; 3. SMOKY VALLEY LADY VIKINGS 91; 4. Salina Sacred Heart 103; 5. Minneapolis 115; 6. Berean Academy 134; 7. Cimarron 135; 8. Halstead 219.

SMOKY VALLEY LADY VIKING VARSITY RESULTS (64 total runners):

Gracie Lambert finished 2nd running 18:25.40

Keira Mullen finished 8th running 21:03.40

Sophia Fruits finished 18th running 22:13.60

Lydia Peterson finished 37th running 24:01.10

Kenzie Heline finished 39th running 24:03.00

Adrien Lochard finished 49th running 25:28.10

Olivia Bengtson finished 51st running 25:31.10

SMOKY VALLEY LADY VIKING JUNIOR VARSITY RESULTS (26 total runners):

Esther Clark finished 5th running 24:35.10

SMOKY VALLEY VIKING BOYS:

Team Standings = 1. Wichita Trinity 35; 2. Southeast of Saline 50; 3. SMOKY VALLEY VIKINGS 90; 4. Berean Academy 118; T-5. Hesston 153; T-5. Ell-Saline 153; 7. Chapman 177; 8. Salina Sacred Heart 233; 9. Halstead 235; 10. Cimarron 286; 11. Ellsworth 295; 12. Abilene 298.

SMOKY VALLEY VIKING BOYS VARSITY RESULTS (90 total runners):

Tytus Reed placed 9th running 17:02.00

Garret Huffman placed 16th running 17:44.40

Justice Gardner placed 20th running 18:01.40

Samuel Peterson placed 22nd running 18:07.50

Britton Becker placed 23rd running 18:09.50

Brayden Eyer placed 52nd running 19:45.00

SMOKY VALLEY VIKING BOYS JUNIOR VARSITY RESULTS (57 total runners):

Immanuel Cooper finished 37th running 23:36.40

Elijah Spooner finished 43rd running 24:31.90

Nicholas Dreier finished 57th running 29:57.40

{Smoky Valley Viking Activity Postings is needing SPONSORS to help cover costs – $40/month during school year – inquiry with William by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com}