By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
The Elkhorn Area High School cross country teams opened their seasons with strong finishes in ideal conditions Aug. 27 in the Palymra Eagle Invitational at Carlin Weld Park in Palmyra.
The Elkhorn girls finished sixth of 10 teams behind Top 10 performances from Taylor Mair and Allyssa Reeves.
The boys finished 11th of 14 teams on the strength of a Top 20 finish from Arandu Huerta.
The Elks race Saturday in the Rebel Invitational at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha. Racine’s Horlick High School is the host school.
Mair and Reeves led the Elkhorn girls to a team total of 165 points at the Palmyra Invite. Deerfield won the girls’ meet with a team total of 62 points. The boys scored 209 points. Milwaukee King scored 31 points and won the boys’ meet.
The top five runners score points for their team in high school country competition.
Mair finished the five kilometer course in 20 minutes, 18.1 seconds and registered the fastest time among the Elkhorn girls. Mair finished fourth overall.
“She is starting out this year right where she left off last year,” Elks coach Randi Wulf said of Mair.
Wulf said Reeves, a freshman, also ran well.
“Allyssa had a nice start to her promising running career, leading some of the race and finishing sixth,” Wulf said. “It will be great to have Allyssa and Taylor run with each other all season to push each other at practice and work together in races.”
Reeves finished sixth in 20:43. Jefferson’s Calli Linse won the girls’ race (20:05).
Wulf said freshmen Ryley Rand, Kassie Thompson and Alex Moreno also ran well. Rand finished 45th (24:00). Thompson finished 57th (24:54) and Moreno finished 69th (25:56).
Diane Lopez finished 65th (25:32) and Luz Contreras came in 78th (27:13) for the Elks’ varsity girls.
Huerta medaled, finishing 18th in 18:55 and leading the Elkhorn boys.
“Arandu ran very well in our opening race and looks to improve on last year’s strong season,” Wulf said.
Wulf also praised two runners who are faster now than they were last season.
“I was most impressed with two of our runners, Collin Passler and Sam DiVarco, who started the season faster than they were all of last year, which is very encouraging,” Wulf said.
DiVarco finished 38th (20:03) and Passler finished 58th (21:20).
Connor LaFavor finished 35th (19:50), Peyton Sanders 60th (21:27), Jacob Truesdale 67th (22:02) and Logan Radlein 72nd (22:59) for the Elks.
Milwaukee King’s Corey Thornton won the boys’ race (17:21).
