• Boys place 3rd; Girls are 6th
The Wyoming Cross-Country State Championships took place in Cheyenne over this past weekend as schools from the 2A, 3A and 4A classifications competed on the course at Little America. The Lady Braves placed sixth in the 4A girls class while the Braves finished third in the 4A boys class.
Kellsie Dunne led the Star Valley girls with a time of 19:32.06, good for 12th overall. Teammate Tylita Bond also went under 20 minutes with a finish of 19:52 which was good for 17th. Adrie Kennington, Carlee Angell and Liddy Cranney rounded out the scoring five as the team compiled a score of 156.
Laramie High School won the 4A girls team race with a total of 47. Dorothy Jensen, Flora Caputo-Wilkowski and Keiran Giraldo were all top ten to pace the Lady Plainsmen. Adalyn Racines was the individual champion from Cheyenne Central as she helped lead the Indians to a runner-up finish of 70 points. Kelly Walsh was third with 83.
The overall team finishes don’t really tell the story of this year’s 4A girls race which was as loaded as it’s ever been.
“The biggest thing was just the depth and the breadth of the girl’s 4A race,” noted coach Ty Draney. “It was astounding. We knew everyone was going to be better. You add Cody, last year’s 3A champs, back into the mix but it was just how fast it was. For example, from our own team, typically a 19:30 on that course would have been a sixth or seventh place and it was 12th. Maggie Madsen from East had won three straight titles and got beat. It was just a big mix of speed. Central was tough and Laramie ended up crushing them. From our estimates, cumulatively our girls ran three minutes faster than last year and dropped two places. I thought we performed really well, it’s not always so cut and dried to get on the podium.”
Caleb Crowther lead the Star Valley boys’ effort with a time of 16:51.39 to place 13th. Ben Hirschi placed 20th with a 17:09.53. Carter King was close behind with a 17:15.02 which was 24th.
The Sheridan Broncs repeated as the 4A team champs with a dominant effort. Eli Balkenbush set a new course record with a time of 15:23.94 to pace the SHS squad. Grayson Moore (3rd), Joseph Gonda (5th), Aadan Luna (7th) and Wyatt Veal (8th) helped the Broncs put all five scorers in the top eight finishers and a team score of 24. Jackson, the 4A West Regional champs from last week, was second overall with a score of 80. The Braves third place total was 135.
It’s just the second time in the last 11 seasons that the Braves have not had an individual champion. The team ran very well and battled through illness leading into the post-season.
“I’m truly grateful to be a part of what we have,” Draney added. “We’ve had more than a decade of winning a team title or winning an individual title or both. To have all new runners and our returning guys to average 58 seconds faster is great. Luke was fighting some sickness and he was fighting hard and when you know your body won’t let you do what you know it can do, it can be mentally devastating. He gutted it out in that last mile and climbed up to be our fifth runner so we’re super proud of him. Carter and Ben ran amazing races. It’s great to have that [podium] streak continue.”
While Wyoming competition is over, the SVXC teams will now prep for the NikeCross Regionals in Spokane, Washington on November 21.
SVHS Girls
Kellsie Dunne 19:32.06 (12th)
Tylita Bond 19:52.00 (17th)
Adrie Kennington 20:40.20 (39th)
Carlee Angell 20:40.27 (40th)
Liddy Cranney 21:23.09 (48th)
Evelyn Scharmann 21:25.43
Kayvri Dockstader 21:55.31
4A Girls Team
Laramie 47
Chey. Central 70
Kelly Walsh 83
Cody 103
Sheridan 151
Star Valley 156
Natrona 206
Thunder Basin 229
Rock Springs 284
Chey. East 291
Evanston 308
Jackson 310
Riverton 316
Green River 368
Camp. County 387
SVHS Boys
Caleb Crowther 16:51.39 (13th)
Ben Hirschi 17:09.53 (20th)
Carter King 17:15.02 (24th)
Maven Oliverson 17:36.76 (37th)
Luke Harris 17:41.86 (41st)
Jace Mitchell 18:19.55
Kade Linford 18:28.15
4A Boys Team
Sheridan 24
Jackson 80
Star Valley 135
Thunder Basin 163
Kelly Walsh 164
Natrona 166
Laramie 171
Chey. Central 175
Evanston 198
Green River 297
Cody 306
Camp. County 314
Chey. East 329
Rock Springs 358
Chey. South 417
Riverton 429
