LMS harriers run well at two weekend meets

Working hard in Big Horn, the Lovell Middle School Bulldogs placed sixth in both the boys and girls division on Friday at the Big Horn Invitational.

“Most of our kids have made really big improvements of about 20 to 30 seconds from our first meet to now,” head coach Joshua Sanders said. “The young athletes are learning that some of the pain they feel when they run doesn’t kill them. I’ve been really impressed with Oscar Garcia. He’s starting to discover that he’s a pretty good runner. He is running over 60 seconds faster than he was before. Nellie Guccion paved the way for the girls over the weekend, and I was really impressed with Chloe Asay, who seems to be a strong runner.

“Most of the athletes have a goal to improve by at least 30 more seconds before the end of the year.”

The Big Horn meet recorded slightly faster times because the course is 3,000 meters as opposed to two miles, Sanders said.

“We love going to Big Horn as it is such a beautiful area,” Sanders said. “They let us run at the equestrian center, and it’s a lot of fun.”

The top finishers for Lovell boys were Garcia 16th, 12:55.8; Weston Hendershot 23rd, 13:03.0; Isaac Sanders 31st, 13:29.3; Joseph Durfee 36th, 13:35.6; Boston Wilson 72nd, 14:42.7; Dagan Reuter 83rd, 14:51.4; James Laffin 87th, 14:59.8; Ethan Hendershot 89th, 15:02.4; Gage Angell 15:10.2; and Jackson Sanders 16:20.7.

The top Lady Bulldog runners were Chloe Asay 31st, 14:40.4; Nellie Guccion 32nd, 14:42.2; Greenlee Pillow 51st, 15:23.3; Macee Winterholler 54th, 15:27.1; Paige Asay 59th, 15:49.4; Hailey Ballard 63rd, 15:57.5; Bonnie Buchholz 74th, 16:20.5; Toree Herman 85th, 16:52.1; Addison Hazen 17:04.4; and Emily Sanders 18:45.1.

The team also ran at the Foster Gulch Golf Course on Monday at the Rocky Mountain Invitational. The top boy placers were Garcia fifth, 13:00; Weston Hendershot 12th, 13:37; Durfee 16th, 14:06; Isaac Sanders 21st, 14:33; Ethan Hendershot 25th, 15:01; Drew Jensen 26th, 15:03; Laffin 31st, 15:58; Angell 38th, 16:32; Reuter 41st, 16:52; and Jackson Sanders 42nd, 16:57.

The top girl placers were Guccion 16th, 14:51; Chloe Asay 20th, 15:12; Winterholler 24th, 15:53; Pillow 37th, 16:57; Buchholz 38th, 17:03; Catherine Zollman 39th, 17:09; Ballard 46th, 17:44; Herman 49th, 17:52; Daisy Carpenter 53rd, 18:07; and Kylie Nicholls 58th, 19:28.

The Middle School Bulldogs will compete in Worland on September 26 with the girls race starting at 2 p.m.