The Grand County High School (GCHS) cross country team ran a pair of meets last week, starting with the John Thornton Invitational in Blanding on Wednesday, Sept. 25, and followed by the Park City Invitational on Friday, Sept. 27.
At the latter race, two GCHS boys runners ran the course in less than 16 minutes, while in the girls race, GCHS junior Kylah Ricks placed second overall.
Ricks finished with an 18:15.4, about 15 seconds behind the race winner Elisabeth Ferrell of Farmington, who finished at 18:00.6; and about five seconds ahead of third-place Emma Thornley of Layton at 18:20.6.
Senior Jessie Anderson was the next GCHS runner across, taking 18th at 21:39.8. Sophomore Bella Welch placed 138th at 22:37.2; sophomore Lorena Johnson placed 165th at 27:02.5; and sophomore Alexa Stripeika placed 166th at 27:03.2. Out of 18 teams that had at least five runners, GCHS placed 15th.
In a much slower-paced race two days earlier, Anderson took third in Blanding at 23:46.3, followed by Johnson in 14th at 27:28.9, Welch in 15th at 27:29.4, senior Rachel Thompson in 25th at 32:00.5, and Stripeika in 26th at 32:15.4. GCHS placed third out of four qualifying teams.
For the boys, seniors Evan Ellison and Malachi Ricks both ran under 16 minutes in Park City, as Ellison took 15th at 15:54.6 and Ricks took 20th at 15:57.8. They were followed by sophomore Arthur Hawks in 105th at 17:27.0; senior Soren Indergard in 193rd at 19:49.2; and senior Jonathan Martineau in 195th at 20:14.2. As a team, they placed 17th out of 23 teams.
GCHS also had two runners in the Junior Varsity Race in Park City, as Tyler Stash took 146th at 20:37.3 and Daniel Thayer took 172nd at 21:14.0.
Only four GCHS boys runners ran the Varsity race in Blanding, where Hawks took third at 19:38.3, Ellison took 10th at 21:01.7, senior Patrick Johnson took 11th at 21:42.9, and Martineau took 15th at 22:09.5.
The Red Devils were scheduled to run in the Sanpete Classic on Wednesday, Oct. 2. They next compete in Price at the Region 12 Championship meet on Thursday, Oct. 15, at 4 p.m.
