By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
The members of the Elkhorn Area High School boys and girls varsity are running their best when it matters most.
The Elks used the Falcon Invite Oct. 9 at Fox River Park in Salem as a tune-up for the Southern Lakes Conference meet and postseason that loom large on the schedule.
The Elkhorn girls finished sixth of 12 teams and the boys finished eight of 13 teams.
“It was a perfect day for a cross country meet – sunny, cool and no wind,” Elks coach Randi Wulf said. “All but five on our team ran their fastest time of the year. It is always reassuring to see that our training is producing the results we are looking for at the end of the season.”
Tay Mair finished fourth overall in the girls’ varsity race in 20 minutes, 16 seconds for the Elks’ best overall finish in the 150-runner strong field.
Maddie Barlow finished 18th (21:42). Luz Contreras finished 41st (23:31), Monique Briand 49th (23:48) and Diane Lopez 58th (24:22).
Haley Annes finished 62nd (24:42), Aubrey Clikeman 67th (25:09), Natalie Sesing 93rd (25:29), Cassandra Moreno 116th (27:09) and Morgan Zurn 136th (29:48).
“I am excited to have our top five boys all run under 20 minutes,” Wulf said. “If we can do this at the conference meet, we should be able to finish in the top four or five.”
Arandu Huerta finished 18th in the boys varsity race and turned in the fastest time of any Elkhorn varsity runner (17:52) in the 200-runner strong race.
Connor Leahy finished 52nd (19:12) and Jacob Truesdale finished 54th (19:19). Connor LaFavor finished 60th (19:45) and Tim Crum 61st (19:48).
Jayce Coffey finished 73rd (20:22) and Jake Nethery 81st (20:53).
“In the last two meets our cross country team has performed very well and we are looking to continue this trend at the conference meet,” Wulf said.
The Southern Lakes Conference meet is Oct. 18 at Waterford High School.
