Harriers first at Imperial

Friday, September 12, 2003

IMPERIAL -- McCook High School junior Shawn McMurtrey and the Bison cross country team brought home first-place honors from the Chase County-Imperial Invitational Thursday.

McMurtrey posted a three-mile time of 17 minutes, 25 seconds.

He beat Chase County's Scott Ohlson by eight seconds and teammate Andrew Yeager by 13 to win the first-place medal.

McCook's Cody Martin finished seventh with a time of 18:24.

The McCook boys tied Bertrand with 27 points, but the Bison were awarded first place because their fifth-best runner edged out Bertrand's by two places.

Ogallala finished third with 40 poijts, followed by the host Longhorns with 44, Dundy County 100, Grant 130 and Sutherland 133.

The Chase County-Imperial girls cross country team finished first with 23 points, edging out Ogallala by one. Grant finished third with 51. McCook and Bertrand tied for fourth with 76.

"Both the boys and girls had better meets than we had at Cozad," said McCook cross country coach Tom Sughroue.

"Ninety percent of the runners improved their times from the last meet. I think that is a great accomplishment for the kids.

"Shawn ran a very good race and took first place. Andrew Yeager ran a good race to place third. Our other medal winner was Cody Martin."

McCook's Kelly Maiden placed 17th with a time of 19:43, followed by Ryan Ankersen, 19th, 19:48; and Alex Sughroue, 33rd, 21:48.

The McCook girls were paced by sophomore Rebecca Rawlings, who medaled with a 10th-place finish. Rawlings was clocked at 17:43.

McCook's Heather Goff placed 25th, 19:41; Vanessa Holliday, 29th, 20:29; Megan Forbes, 30th, 20:32; Jessica Battreall, 31st, 20:42; and Alison Hofer, 33rd, 21:48.

"Rebecca Rawlings placed 10th in a field of very good runners," Sughroue said. "The girls are only getting better. We had three runners cross the line at 29-30-31 places.

"It's great to see them group and run together. I know they will continue to push up the pack. Heather Goff ran very well also. I know she could do better and with her drive and desire to do her best, she will."

The McCook cross country team competes at the Broken Bow Invitational at 10 a.m. Saturday.

In addition to Ohlson's second-place finish the Chase County boys also received a 12th-place finish from Brett Gooden, who was clocked at 19:19.

Chris Lee finished 15th, 19:30; Trey Boggs, 18th, 19:45; Arturo Acosta, 20th, 19:54; and Brian Lee, 28th, 21:01.

Breanna Bjerrum paced the Chase County girls with a second-place showing. Her time of 17:02 was five seconds behind first-place winner Ashley Schutte of Ogallala.

Teammates Michelle Dill and Jamie Lines placed 4-5 with times of 17:16 and 17:23. Katie Ohlson placed 13th, 17:53; Shelby Thompson, 21st, 19:13; and Ashley Benson, 24th, 19:35.

Dundy County's boys team was paced by Jordan Stroup, 25th, 20:42; Ben Horobik, 26th, 20:49; Ben Baird, 27th, 20:49; Andrew Armijo, 31st, 21:43; Chris Owens, 34th, 22:00; and Chris Quint, 45th, 19:52.

The Dundy County girls were represented by Megan Baird, 15th, 18:24; Kiley Elwell, 40th, 24:54 and Mikah Tacha, 41st, 26:44.

The Maywood boys were represented by Craig Hazen, 36th, 22:38; Aaron Steinhour, 38th, 24:00; and Tony Steinhour, 41st, 24:45.

Katie Dolan was the lone Republican Valley/Twin Valley runner. She placed 32nd in the girls race with a time of 21:33.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: