Lovell harriers break personal records at Cody meet

The Lovell Bulldogs cross country team is hitting its stride. The Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs traveled to the Cody Thursday for the Cody Fox and Hounds meet and turned in some outstanding performances.

In the fox and hound format, slower runners start first, with faster runners starting in stages after that, based on previous times.

Coach Caleb Sanders said all but one member of the boys team either ran a season best or set a personal record in Cody.

“We do well on this course (the Olive Glenn Country Club). This course is fast,” Sanders said. “They’re running and training really well. They’re in better shape, and they’re competitive with each other, more so than we’ve had in a while.

“It’s a deeper team than we’ve had for a while, too…It’s friendly competition. They know each other, and they want to compete with the people they see in practice, see where they can land in their own ranks.

Sophomore David Durfee was the top runner for the boys, running a time of 18:55, but sophomore Jacob Thomas made the biggest jump, running a time of 19:08, a personal record that is 42 seconds faster than his season best from three days earlier at Foster Gulch.

“Jacob made a huge leap,” Sanders said. “I think it’s maturity, and he’s enjoying running more. He’s a competitive person.”

Senior AJ Clark ran 19:19, a season best, junior Dino DeLaCruz 20:00 (PR by 32 seconds), sophomore Owen Hill 20:11 (PR by 48 seconds), freshman Sam Mayes 20:50 (PR by 54 seconds), sophomore Jay Mayes 21:00 (PR), sophomore Hugh Carpenter 22:40 (PR by 51 seconds), sophomore Cash Wassmer 23:18 (PR by 1:27), freshman Jaxen Clark 24:00 (PR by 52 seconds)
and junior Thane Zollman 25:10 (PR).

Girls results

For the Lovell girls team, senior Hallie Cornia and sophomore Annalyn Marchant are still nursing injuries, but senior Kyanna Walker ran a personal-record time of 25:55 and topped her season best from the Rocky Mountain meet three days earlier by 54 seconds.

“Keyanna has been well, and we’re seeing this in practice,” Sanders said. “She’s getting in better condition, and some injuries slowed her last year. She’s healthy and in shape.”

Also making a jump in performance was freshman Candace Walker, who improved her time at the Rocky meet by 45 seconds to run a personal-record time of 25:56, hot on the heels of Kyanna Walker.

“Over the last two meets she’s been one of our best girl runners,” Sanders said. “I don’t know why, but I think it’s the same thing – getting in shape.”

Senior Sadie Wassmer ran a season-best time of 26:50, a full minute faster than her time at Foster Gulch, and sophomore Atlee Sanders ran a season-best 28:33.

Summing up, coach Sanders said there’s a lot of positive energy on the team right now.

“This group (of boys) doesn’t dread racing,” he said. “They look forward to what they can do, which is not the characteristic of every team. They fully embrace their part of it.

“The girls are definitely improving and working hard in practice and getting in great shape.”

Worland meet

Next up for the Lovell squad is the Worland Invitational today (Thursday) at the Worland golf course. Running begins with the middle school girls race at 3 p.m.,
followed by the middle school boys at 3:30, high school girls at 4 and high school boys at 4:30.

The Powell Invitational will wrap up the
regular season on Friday, Oct. 6.