Seward hosted the annual Charlie Thorell Invitational Sept. 1. The cross country meet, one of the first of the season, draws schools from all four classes to Concordia University for 5K races. With the addition of three more schools, Seward Coach Kurt Holliday said, the total was 20 this year.
"It's a pretty impressive meet," Holliday said.
He thanked all the parents and community members who contributed to the meet's success.
"We didn't fare super high in the team standings," Holliday said.
Seward competed without sophomore Tessa Greisen who is battling an injury.
SHS senior Karnie Gottschalk led the Bluejays. She finished 17th in 21:41.91.
"She gutted it out and pushed herself," Holliday said. "She put herself in position to medal."
Fellow seniors Natalie Axt and Eden Schulz were the next two Jays to cross the finish line.
In the boys’ race, senior Colin Standifer paced SHS with a 31st-place finish in 18:15.89. Jacob Kimbrough and Will Ratkovec, both sophomores, were second and third for the Jays. Tanner Bye earned an 11th-place medal in the JV boys' race, which Holliday was pleased to see.
"He kept moving up. He's worked hard this first month," the coach said.
Ratkovec, Kimbrough and Jack Schulz, all sophomores, ran well, he said. A couple other runners were battling illness and injury so didn't perform as well.
"We hope to put it all together next week," Holliday said. "We had a lot of improvement."
The majority of the Bluejay runners improved their times from the time trial the week before, he said. With the young runners, the coaches are bringing them along slowly to see how they progress as they get into shape.
"I've been pretty pleased with their efforts," he said.
Seward is scheduled to run at Aurora Friday, Sept. 9, in a smaller meet with fewer large schools, Holliday said.
"I think it will be good for us," he said.
