Staff writer
Both Marion High School cross-country teams finished in the top half of schools competing Thursday at Hesston.
The girls’ team placed eighth of 22 teams and the boys’ team came in 12th of 24 teams.
“We had a fantastic meet,” coach Rebecca Hofer said. “Everyone improved their time. Many runners improved by several minutes.”
Hofer said multiple 1-2-3A schools and 4-5-6A schools ran at the meet. This year, Hesston also attached timing chips to all the runners’ feet.
“The only other place we experience this technology is state, so it made yesterday fun,” she said. “I had a blast watching our runners compete against runners in other divisions and schools they otherwise wouldn’t see.”
Each race was ran and placed by grade level. Afterward a computer divided 1-3A and 4-6A for placing. Top 20 finishers in both categories medaled.
Individually, Colin Williams placed fourth in a sophomore boys’ race with a time of nineteen minutes and thirteen seconds and Tyler Arocha was 14th in a junior boys’ race at 20:15.0.
Top runners for the girls’ team were McKenzee Remmers who placed 7th in a senior girls’ race at 22:39.2, Emily Hague was 5th in a junior girls’ race at 22:59.2, and Meggan Frese was 19th in a sophomore girls’ race at 25:40.7.
Boys’ runners Jarrett Johnson, Magnus Maarslet, and Joeb Corona placed 27th, 36th and 50th in their respective races.
Girls’ runners A.J. Arterburn, Shyla Harris, Brittany Hett, and Kaitlyn Goebel placed 21st, 28th, 32nd, and 40th, respectively, in their races.
Marion runs next at 4 p.m. Thursday at Herington.