Staff writer
Three Marion High School boys’ cross-country runners clocked personal best times Thursday as the Warriors placed third in the Heart of America League meet at Bennington.
The Warrirors tied Bennington for second place with 69 points, but lost the tie-breaker.
Jordan Hett ran a personal best time of 16 minutes, 41 seconds on the flat, fast course, but he gave another reason for his time.
“I was running against good competition,” Hett said.
Patrick McCarty came in as the second-best Warriors runner with a season-best time of 17:54, placing sixth. Timothy Knolla ran a personal best time of 18:01, finishing eighth, and Jacob Cope came in 18th with a season-best time of 18:41. Clark Kroupa ran 20:25 to place 32nd, Jared Hague finished 38th with a personal best time of 21:11, and Quinton Hett came in 42nd with a time of 21:34.
“The course was a interesting one,” coach Rebecca Hofer said. “The runners had to run around a rodeo arena, which resulted in running through horse droppings, and then they had to run around the football facilities.
“However, everyone ran very well despite the unique terrain.”
McKenzee Remmers placed 10th in the girls’ varsity race with a personal best time of 17:13. Erin Meierhoff also ran a personal best, placing 24th in 18:56.
Junior-varsity runner Nicholas Davies placed 57th with a personal best time of 25:33. Shyla Harris placed 35th in the girls’ junior-varsity with a time of 19:56.
The Marion harriers travel Saturday to Southeast of Saline for regional competition. Hett will be making a bid for a fourth consecutive trip to the state meet on a familiar course.
“I ran it my freshman year for regionals. It’s pretty flat, so it shouldn’t be too bad,” Hett said.
Hett’s focus isn’t only on individual goals. He’s hoping the team runs their best races of the season.
“We want to try to get in that top three to get to state,” Hett said.
The Warriors will have to work hard in a regional loaded with good teams, Hofer said.
“Several of the teams we will run against are state-ranked,” Hofer said. “In the last coaches poll Salina-Sacred Heart was ranked second, Southeast of Saline was sixth, and Hutch Trinity was ranked seventh. We have the next amount of votes, putting us in eighth place. It will be a very tough regional.”