Hot weather takes toll on runners at Weiser Invite

Unseasonably hot temperatures during the Weiser Invitational on Thursday afternoon caused heat-related issues for the high school runners and resulted in overall slower times.

 The Weiser varsity girls team finished in eighth place out of 16 teams from Idaho and Oregon, while the boys finished in 16th place out of 19 teams that made the trip to Weiser.

 Even under the best of weather conditions, the 5-K at Rolling Hills Golf Course is known to be a challenging course with its hills and terrain. With the temperature at race time at 90-plus degrees the difficulty factors compounded for the high school runners.

 A number of athletes running the Weiser course suffered from heat-related illnesses either during the race or immediately after. Some of them required medical attention and two Weiser ambulances were dispatched to the golf course. None of the runners were on the Weiser teams. 

 “The heat was definitely a factor. It was really difficult for the kids to keep their normal pace,” Weiser cross county coach Scott Hale said. 

 One Weiser runner struggled to recover after the race, Hale said, but she did fine once she got to the shade and drank water. The team always brings a couple of large water coolers for that reason.

 Despite the heat, Weiser senior Abbey Shirts finished in second place in a large field of 103 varsity runners. She led the Weiser girls with a time of 21:19.42. It was her best time this season and one second faster than her time at the New Plymouth Invite on Aug. 29.

 Shirts dueled with Gemma LaVergne of Emmett, who finished first at Weiser with a time of 20:06.21, and Kylahn Heritage of Melba, who took third place with a time of 22:05.11.

 Heritage finished second to Shirts at the New Plymouth Invite on Aug. 29. It was Shirts first race of the season after coming off a foot injury and she took first place.

 “All that being said, I was still very impressed with Abbey getting second overall with a pretty decent time,” Hale said. “A lot of the new runners I saw ran a much smarter race than last week at New Plymouth. So even though times were slower, I think if things were equal, most of them would have been faster.”

 Also running for the varsity girls for Weiser were Ellie Walker, who finished in the top 50 with a time of 25:53.65. Ashlyn Walker and Alonna Freeland finished together with times of 27:29.41 and 27:32.89, respectively. Freshman Libbie Rynearson ran the race in 28:26.10 and Madi Cobb finished in 28:54.05 for Weiser.

 For the Weiser varsity boys, senior Rhett Kunz finished in 15th place with a time of 18:36.02 in a field of 130 runners. Kunz ran a faster race than he did last week at the New Plymouth Invite by about 35 seconds. 

 His best race this year was the season opener on Aug. 25 at the Bandanna Jimmy Driscoll Invitational, when he ran the 5,000 meters in 18:15.1.

 Other varsity Weiser boys and their times include Tyler Walker (21:04.31), Nate Lattin (21:42.02), Colton Foster (21:57.01), Mitchell Westover (22:08.49), Michael Despain (23:51.71), Cade Thompson (29:54.32).

 Vallivue took first place at the Weiser Invite for the boys varsity, with Parma coming in second in team scores, and Cole Valley Christian in third place.

 For the varsity girls, Cole Valley Christian came in first place, followed by Melba and Middleton in third place.

 The Wolverines will travel to Nyssa, Ore., on Wednesday for the Nyssa Invitational.