On one of the best days of the season to run, the Milford and Malcolm cross country teams competed at the UNK Invite Sept. 28 in Kearney. The Milford girls finished seventh, led by Macie Carter in third place with a time of 19:46.5.
Coach Jake Kment said Carter improved her time from last weason by over 40 seconds. Abby Crabtree, who was 34th in 21:47, improved by over a minute, as did Elsa Schweitzer, finishing in 22:19 and 50th place.
Olivia Augustyn was Milford’s fourth runner and placed 65th in 22:46.
“She didn’t compete at this race last year, but I will say that she has strung together five consecutive races under 22 minutes, something I don’t think she would have dreamt of doing a year ago at this time,” Kment said.
The Malcolm girls did not have official times because of technical difficulties, but both ran personal best times, Coach Brie Pulec said.
The Milford boys had an up-and-down day, Kment said.
Yoan Montero was the top finisher in 46th place with a 18:36.5 time, “impressive considering he got 117th place last year,” Kment said.
Sylus Rakow seems to be getting back to form, the coach said, and placed 97th in 19:31.7. Adler Armbrust was the team’s third runner, turning in a time of 19:52.9 to place 114th.
“He ran 2 1/2 minutes faster than last year, which is a testament to the work he has put in,” Kment said.
Brock Porter continued to impress, placing 145th with a time of 20:22.3.
“He would have to be considered our ‘surprise’ of the year,” Kment said. “He is a junior who didn’t even know he was doing cross country until the very last minute this summer. He’s still learning about the sport, but has earned a varsity spot heading into the postseason races.”
Jonny Kohout continues to improve, as well, as he comes back from serious ankle surgery in the spring.
“He battled through some discomfort like we can always count on him doing,” Kment said. “We really weren’t sure he’d be able to race at all this year, but his dedication has gotten him back into a varsity position and his leadership to our team is invaluable.”
Kohout was 168th in 20:40.8.
Pulec said Malcolm’s Carter Thieman, Jordan Groff and Reece Placke set personal best times at the race.
Peyton Jones was the team’s leader, finishing 86th in 19:19.3. Thieman was 101st with a time of 19:35.9, with Will Kaczor placing 116th in 19:54.8. Pulec said Kaczor was struggling to breathe around the first mile and slowed down because of that.
“It’s hard to run when you can’t catch your breath,” she said.
Mason Turek was the team’s fourth runner, turning in a itme of 20:52 to place 179th.
“I would have liked all of them to have a fantastic race so I could gauge a bit better what needs to be worked on, but that didn’t happen, and that’s OK,” Pulec said.
She is looking for the runners to put everything together this week for conference to build confidence for districts the following week.
“They are capable, but so are the other teams. Everyone wants to be able to run well and have their best races in the final two weeks before state. It’s going to come down to mental focus and putting it all out there on the course. Everyone needs to show up ready to give it their all during these final weeks,” she said.
The Trailblazer Conference meet, in which Malcolm will compete, is Thursday, Oct. 8, at Lake Wanahoo near Wahoo starting at 10 a.m.
Milford is set to run at the Southern Nebraska Conference meet Thursday, Oct. 8, at Superior starting at 5 p.m.
