Distance runners score personal bests at BYU Invite
Sep 20, 2012 | 496 views | 0 0 comments | 4 4 recommendations | email to a friend | print
GCHS junior Treyton Helquist competes at the BYU Invitational on Sept. 15. Fourteen of Grand’s 20 runners scored personal bests at the event, according to coaches. Photo by John Knowles
GCHS junior Treyton Helquist competes at the BYU Invitational on Sept. 15. Fourteen of Grand’s 20 runners scored personal bests at the event, according to coaches. Photo by John Knowles
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The Grand County High School cross country team may not have won at the BYU Invitational last weekend, but both the girls and boys teams made strong showings against some of the strongest teams in Utah, said coach Randy Martin.

“Out of the 20 [GCHS] team members who competed at BYU, 14 ran their personal bests for the season,” Martin said. “At this point of the season, we are looking for a good number of our runners to improve their times week after week, and that is what we saw at BYU.”

The course at BYU is a one-mile loop around the practice fields and baseball field surrounding the track stadium and finishes with a quarter-mile run on the track. The conditions were ideal for runners, with cool temperatures and bright sunshine the order of the day, Martin said.

Leading the way for the girl’s varsity team was Junior Mercedes James who finished 14th out of 170 other runners in her race with a time of 22:01. Junior Alena Geiser finished with a time of 25:29; she was followed closely by juniors Jessica Stucki, with a time of 25:33, and junior Miranda Shumway, with a time of 25:34. Sophomore Zhanna Rice finished with a time of 28:07.

Freshman Annie Heywood, competing in the freshman/sophomore race, finished with a time of 26:14 to take 65th place among the 128 female runners.

“It was very encouraging to see almost all of the girls on the team run personal bests on Saturday,” Martin said. “That is a testament to their hard work they put in every day at practice.”

GCHS junior Jacob Francis led the boys’ varsity team. Francis finished in 15th place with a time of 17:17. Finishing behind Francis was junior Treyton Helquist, with a time of 18:11; junior Jackson Knowles, with a time of 19:15; junior Adam Jenkinson, with a time of 20:46; junior Joseph Andrew, with a time of 21:17; and junior Skyler Johnson, with a time of 22:03.

Five boys team members competed in the junior varsity race. Leading the way for the boys junior varsity team was freshman Samuel Hanson, who finished with a time of 20:52, which put him in 117th place out of 234 runners. Junior Brendon Henderson finished with a time of 21:09; junior Jeremy McDougall finished with a time of 21:25; junior Liam Kelley finished with a time of 23:52; and junior Reyce Knutson finished with a time of 25:37.

Competing in the boys freshman/sophomore race were sophomore Mikeal Ford and freshmen Neal Stucki and Cody Jones. Ford edged Stucki by an eyelash at the finish with a time of 22:18.5, while Stucki finished with a time of 22:18.7. Jones finished with a time of 23:05.

“Overall, the team continues to improve week by week,” Martin said. “The runners are all working hard every day in practice with a goal of running their best races in October at the regional and state meets.”

The Red Devils next scheduled meet was the South Sevier Invite in Monroe, Utah on Wednesday, Sept.19.

“The Red Devils would like to invite all runners in the community to the Moab Autumn Run at Swanny Park on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 8 a.m.,” Martin said.

The Autumn Run is a 5k/10k/and kids race that is also the annual fundraiser for the Red Devil cross-country team and the Moab Charter School.
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