The Ram cross country teams opened the 2019 season at the Woodward-Granger Invitational Monday at Jester Park.
The boys finished in second place with just five points separating the top three teams. Runners contributing to the team score were sophomore Logan Woodruff, 4th, 20;07; junior Luis Velazco, 5th, 20:28; freshman Dakota Mobley, 12th, 21:12; sophomore Ethan Larsen, 15th, 21:27; and freshman Jose Velazco, 21st, 22:05. Other Rams on the varsity were junior Connor Brus, 22nd, 22;06; and freshman Ethan Frederick, 27th, 22:27. Seventy-one runners competed.
The fastest boys time was 19:08 run by senior Logan Berg of Baxter.
Boys team scores were Saydel 55; Greene County 57; Woodward-Granger 59; West Marshall 76; Baxter 144; and Clarke 148.
The girls finished in fourth place, with junior Ashlee Harmeyer leading the team with a 6th place finish and a time of 25:14. Other Ram finishes were junior Kassie Lamoureux, 9th, 26:00; sophomore Makala Kafer, 19th, 28:46; freshman Olivia Shannon, 21st, 29:22; and freshman Autumn Stevens, 22nd, 29:25. Junior Kayla Muir finished 26th in 33:14 and junior
Tieryn Tucker finished 28th in 33:48. Fifty-eight girls raced.
The fastest girls time was 24:04 set by freshman Emelia Hauser of West Marshall.
Girls team scores were West Marshall 28; Baxter 67; Woodward-Granger 74; Greene County 77; and Saydel 123.
Coach Jeff Lamoureux said he was very pleased with the results. “Both boys and girls really gave great effort,” he said. “This was the first meet of the year for all and for a lot of our team their first 5K ever. This will give us a good baseline for the remainder of the season.”
The Rams’ next cross country meet is the Gilbert Invitational on the challenging ISU course in Ames Thursday.
