Cross country ready for state

This weekend is the last competition for the Green River High School Cross Country team.

“We’re looking forward to state,” head coach Steve Boyd said.

Boyd believes the courses the runners have competed in will help them during the state competition. Courses like they’ve run at Park City, Utah, featured a lot of hills and changing elevation, which differs from the course in Sheridan, which is much flatter in comparison.

Boyd said four girls will compete, which is just under the five-person minimum limit for a team. The low number is the result of sickness and injuries affecting the girls team. Boyd said senior runner Josie Givens will compete and looks forward to seeing how well she competes at the competition. Givens took second place last weekend in Evanston with a time of 20:15.02, finishing nearly 10 seconds behind Evanston runner Brittany Barton. Givens earned her third all-conference title as a result of her strong finish. Other Green River girls runners competing in the Cross Country Conference competition were Kaisa Arnell, who finished at 22:11.81 and Cassie Newcomb at 22:52.69.

For the boys, Boyd said he’s happy with the team’s grouping, but believes they need to cut time. Boyd thinks their times will improve at the state competition. Last weekend, the varsity boys team finished fourth, behind Rock Springs, Evanston and Kelly Walsh. Braden Reichl finished 12th at 18:06.04, with Brayden Kovick finishing 13th at 18:08.01, Curtis Westenskow finishing 21st at 18:28.52, Miles Moffat finishing in 26th at 18:50.15, Caleb Nathan finishing 35th at 20:00.34 and Josh Mattson finishing 40th at 20:57.02.