Wolverines do well at Bob Firman

The WHS cross country team had another meet this time over in Eagle Island State Park on Sept. 27.

So far this season has been quite fruitful for the cross country team with them doing quite well each meet often placing highly with both their boys’ and girls’ teams. 

This meet was no different with the teams also doing well despite the tough competitors they had to go against.

The race was at the beautiful Eagle Island State Park and was quite the big meet. It’s called the Bob Firman XC race and it is quite the big one.

 In terms of big, this year’s race drew as many as 5,000 runners representing 156 teams from nine states. 

 Beginning on Friday, there were separate 3000 meter heats for sixth grade boys and girls competitions; followed by seventh and eighth grade contests.

 Saturday’s 5000 meter races were divided into three mens’ varsity heats, three womens’ varsity heats, one elite race for each men and women, and two junior varsity heats in both mens and womens divisions.

The course took the runners through dirt roads, grassy up and down hills, and a beautiful beachside run.

The varsity boys team raced in the varsity division 2 heat and placed 17th out of 48 teams and had seven runners in the heat. The top five runners for the team were Blake Quinton setting a personal record with a time of 16:38.8 and placing 15th overall, Josh Kelley setting a season record with a time of 17:56.4 and placing 65th overall, Judah Parsons with a time of 18:40.2 placing 118th overall, Jorge Martinez setting a season record with a time of 19:09.5 and placing 167th overall, and Ammon Anderson setting a personal record with a time of 19:18.4 and placing 180th overall. In total, there were 356 runners in the boys varsity heat.

The varsity girls’ team sadly only had three runners meaning they couldn’t count as a team. Those runners were Claire Matthews with a time of 20:27.3 placing 17th overall and setting a season record by improving her time by 32 seconds, Corianna Parsons setting a personal record with a time of 20:36.0 placing 21st overall, and Kelsey Cole with a time of 27:01.9 placing 225th overall. In total, there were 288 runners in this heat.

 Weiser’s coach Scott Hale keeps a runners training log where his athletes can voluntarily record the miles they put in on a daily basis. According to the log, two athletes recorded a total of 113.4 miles during September. The results of the runners’ training show up in the competitive race outcomes.

The next meet will be hosted tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 4, here in Weiser at the Rolling Hills Golf Course, starting at 10 a.m. with the middle school girls 3000 meter race, followed by the middle school boys race. The team has one more regular season race on Oct. 16, before SRV districts set for Oct. 22.

 Let’s hope the WHS cross-country team can continue to make Weiser proud and continue to prove why it is so special to be a Wolverine.