Season in full swing for Broncos cross-country team

The Lind-Ritzville/Sprague cross country team’s season is in full swing as the LRS Broncos took part in two meets last week. This followed a week that saw the team race in a Spokane area invite meet that included several 4A schools.

In their first race after the cross country Jamboree, the Broncos traveled to Spokane to take place in the Highlander Invite on Sept. 14. This invitational included schools of all sizes, including several 4A schools.

LRS head coach Morgan Hunt said the competition was a good experience for her squad.

“The [Highlander Invite] was awesome,” Hunt said. “It was by far the biggest race we have ever been to.”

The boys races were broken into four races, one for each grade. All of the races were 2.5 miles.

In the Freshman race, there were 225 boys. Caleb Heater ran this race and he placed 208th with a time of 21:23. In the Sophomore race, there were 223 boys. Eli Michaels placed 165th with a time of 17:08. In the Junior race, there were 212 boys. Sam Michaels placed 112th with a time of 16:13. LRS did not have a boy in the senior race.

Girls races were broken into three races, freshmen; junior varsity and varsity. Hunt entered her entire girls team into the JV race.

There were 236 girls in this race. Julia Klein placed 66th with a time of 19:02. Myra Miller placed 193rd with a time of 23:28. Mercedes Miller placed 195th with a time of 23:30. Jessica Heater placed 212th with a time of 24:34.

“There were way over 1,300 runners at this meet,” Hunt said. “I am so proud of how hard my kids ran and how well they supported our small school competing against 4A schools … It was so much fun to watch as their coach to see how they can compete and how much fun the kids have out there. Our team continues to make huge growth and they make coaching this team so much fun.”

The team’s season continued last week with a smaller, but important, league race in Colfax. It was a meet of the south division of the league.

The boys’ side was led by brothers Eli and Sam Michaels who ran 19:23 and 19:27, good for 15th and 17th respectively.

Julia Klein and returning runner Linnea Schafer led the way for the girls, each finishing in the top-10.

Hunt said Saturday’s meet—The Nike Battle for the 509—was another larger invitational. Several runners missed that meet due to illness.

Hunt hopes her team just keeps improving as the season goes on. She has several areas of focus for improvement this week.

“Mile consistency, I feel, would be a big thing for us,” Hunt said. “Because a lot of us want to start really, really fast at the beginning of the race, and then we die by the end … Another thing we’re hitting really hard is how to breath … And then our finish. Working on being able to see the 100 mark and sprint to the finish line even if you are dead tired. Those are big-three things this week.”

The LRS cross country team will be back in action on Sept. 28 for an all-league meet in Chewelah. It will be the first time this season that both the north and south of the league will be together.

“This is the one meet where we will see everyone we are competing with,” Hunt said.