Cross Country competes in regional meet

The Green River Cross Country boys and girls teams competed this past Saturday at the Chief Nation Invitational Cross Country Meet in Ethete, Wyoming against twenty teams with approximately 200 runners from schools from across the state.

Ryanna Smith of Rawlins won the girls division in the 5,000 meter race with a time of 19:17.8, with Natrona taking home the team title. Owen Burnett of Mountain View won the boys 5,000 in 16:11.5, with Star Valley winning the boys title.

For the girls, Green Riverss top finisher was Isabelle Murdock in 22:23.4, followed by Madison Murdock in 22:28.7, Lilly Murdock in 22:55.4, Jayleigh Wright in 23:16.4 and Meeka Iwen in 23.21.8.

The boys were led by Nathan Stevensen, who took ninth overall in a very fine time of 17:13.3. Hale Iwen came in at 19:02.6, with James Harper in 20:48.6 and Marcos Mandujano in 21:52.9.

Head Cross Country Coach Craig Leavitt was very pleased with his team’s performance. Coach Leavitt felt that the team had a hard week of training, due in part to the hot weather and smoke, and he was surprised at how big of improvements there were. Leavitt felt that the elements seemed to have toughened up the runners. The weather at the meet was a perfect 60 degrees, and the Coach observed he could tell they were going to have a good day with the kids excited to run in the cool weather. The girls, according to the Coach, “ran excellent, staying together through the race and pushing each other to move up as a group.”

The biggest surprise, according to Leavitt, was Nathan Stevensen finishing ninth. The Coach noted that “we always knew he was fast but this time he realized it as well.” The Coach asked Stevensen to go out hard and stay with the top 10 or 20 runners in the first mile, which Stevensen did, running the first mile in five minutes and 31 seconds and continuing that pace for the next two miles. The Coach felt “when kids develop into runners and start racing the 5k rather than just surviving is one of my favorite parts of being a coach.” He went on to conclude that “these kids are definitely racing now!”