The Star Valley Cross-Country teams competed in Rock Springs last weekend where the boys team claimed the team title and the girls were third amid some challenging conditions. But since when are cross-country runners stopped by something like that?
The course, on the grounds of White Hills Golf Course, served as the location of the event which was the penultimate race of the regular season with State coming up this Saturday.
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“It was cold,” head coach Ty Draney replied. “Everyone I’ve checked with appears to have thawed by now. It was one of those races that checked all of those tough boxes and we are looking toward a new week and putting a bow on the season and getting after it in Cheyenne this weekend.”
The races will be at the Little America course on Saturday afternoon in the state’s capitol city. It’s a location that hosts a collegiate race every year for the University of Wyoming. Draney talked about trying to improve from last weekend’s outing.
“We probably had a ‘B’ race overall and we talk a lot about championship season not needing an A+ race but it’s hard to manage this time of year,” he added.” We don’t set goals as far as how the team is going to place but we want to compete. I think maybe we worried a little more about our placing than just getting out and running [at regionals].”
The Braves are going into Saturday’s race as one of the favorites as they have won the last two team titles. Habtamu Wetzel has been the individual champ the last two years. However, it is teammate Jase Burton that may well be the favorite heading into the race. Junior Colton Cranney will also be near the top of the lead pack. Brigham Hahn and Matt Heywood are also returning from last year’s title team.
The Lady Braves do not have a runner expected to finish in the top-ten, but their pack running has been impressive this season and a good race combined with more teams could help them make the podium.
Carlee Angell led the Star Valley effort but Macy Kennington, Kylee Linford, Kaitlyn Bach and Alexis Angell were all within 37 seconds of her finish.
“Everybody is coming after our guys,” Draney added. “There are some great teams. Sheridan ran incredibly well this weekend. Natrona wasn’t too far behind us. It’s going to be important to do our thing and get out front and see where things go. It’s hard to predict even though we think we have control over it. A lot of things can happen.”
“Our girls pack was right close together and we have to step that up but no matter where we’re at we’ve made some important strides and we aim to keep that trend going.”
The State races begin at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday with the 2A Girls which will be followed by the 4A Girls at 11 a.m. The 3A Girls will run at 11:30 a.m. All three classifications have teams looking to repeat as state champions with Wright, Natrona County and Powell winning last year.
The 2A Boys are scheduled for 12 noon with the 4A Boys racing at 12:30 pm. The 3A Boys will wrap the event with a start time of 1 p.m. Burlington is trying to repeat in 2A with the Braves looking for the three-peat in 4A. There will be a new team champion in 3A with Evanston re-joining the 4A class after winning the 3A title last year.
