Schafer continues to lead the way for LRS cross country

The cross country season continues to roll on. While head coach Morgan Hunt's team is made up of mostly new runners, last year's lone girls team runner Linnea Schafer is back and is leading the way for the LRS squad.

Sept. 28 was the only all-league meet of the season for District 7, outside of postseason competition, as both the North and South divisions sent their athletes to the meet at Jenkins High School in Chewelah.

While the LRS girls finished the meet in fifth place out of the six teams competing, Schafer ran the 5,000 meter race in 21:59, good for ninth place out of 61 runners.

Also finishing in the top 20 for LRS was Julia Klein with a time of 23:17.

On the boys' side, LRS finished No. 13 out of the 14 teams competing. The Broncos' top finisher was Eli Michels, who finished in 40th place with a time of 19:58.

On Oct. 5, the Broncos took part in the Pasco Bulldog invite. Large invitationals like these are often divided into varsity and junior varsity races.

Hunt often has the girls on her team race in the JV race, because these meets include much larger schools. On this occasion, however, Hunt had Schafer and Klein compete in the varsity race, which included 67 racers. Schafer finished No. 19 with a time of 22:35.5. Klein finished No. 67 with a time of 28:11.4.

Mercedes Miller was LRS' top finisher in the JV race. She clocked a time of 27:33.7, good for 29th place.

The LRS boys did not have any racers in the varsity run. The JV races were divided into two groups. Hugo Hernandez Martin was the top LRS finisher of the JV grades 9-10 race. He finished No. 53 with a time of 22:39.8.

Oct. 8 was league race for the south divisions of Districts 7 and 9. Schafer finished No. 3 out of the 27 girls racing. Her time was 22:08. Myra Miller finished No. 21 in 28:41, Mercedes Miller finished No. 22 in 28:44, Jessica Heater finished No. 26 in 33:37 and Jordyn Fode finished No. 27 in 34:11 for LRS.

For the boys, 56 runners competed. Sam Michels and Caleb Heater were LRS' only competitors. Michels finished No. 26 in 19:48 and Heater finished No. 49 in 22:35.

Another large tournament, the Moses Lake Invitational, was on Oct. 12. Again, Hunt ran Schafer in the varsity race, where she finished No. 14 out of 78 runners with a time of 21:14.2.

Twenty-two runners entered the girls JV race. Mercedes Miller was LRS' top finisher with a time of 26:39.3, good for eighth place.

On the boys side, LRS did not enter any runners in the varsity race. In the JV race, 122 racers finished. Eli Michels finished No. 45 as LRS' top finisher with a time of 20:21.3.