SHS prevails at Ontario
Daily Globe Sports Editor
ONTARIO — Shelby’s boys cross country picked up championship hardware Saturday with a first-place showing at the Ontario Bill Brown Invitational.
The Whippets collected 31 points to outdistance runner-up Lexington with 51. Utica was third with 113.
“Anytime you race Lexington, you know you are in for a fight. I thought we had some guys step up again for us,” said red and gray coach Chris Zuercher.
SHS was paced by sophomore Huck Finnegan with a first-place time of 17:02. Joining in the scoring were Riley Fackler (3rd, 17:24), Josh Mohr (5th, 17:28), Karl Moore (9th, 18:02) and Mason Hendrickson (13th, 18:14).
Huck again is showing how strong he is. Riley has moved into a solid No. 2 for us and Josh is a solid No. 3. Kael stepped into our No. 4 spot and while not a PR, it was definitely his best race ever on a challenging course,” said Zuercher. “We need to work on winning battles at the finish line. Lexington got us at a few spots right at the line. Those are things we can’t let happen a month from now.”
In the girls race, finishes were reversed as Lexington was first with 17 and the Lady Whippets second with 68.
Kayla Gonzales led the SHS girls with a fourth place time of 20:36. Helping in the scoring were Reyna Hoffman (10th, 21:29), Kailyn Schwall (18th, 22:04), Channon Cundiff (23rd, 23:04) and Abby Vogt (24th, 24:03).
“Our ladies did a great job,” summed up coach Steve Clark. “Our pack run was amazing and tight, Our mile splits looked great today and our second miles looked good. They battled all day and it paid off.”
In the middle school girls race, Shelby was third and led by the seventh-place effort of Emma Montgomery with 13:44.
The Whippets were sixth in the middle school boys competition and led by Evan Reed who was 31st with 13:11.
“Both teams ran aggressive. Some injuries and illness set us back a bit, but they are looking forward to Mount Gilead next weekend,” said middle school coach Jordie Garrett.
Shelby’s cross country teams run Saturday at the Mt. Gilead Invitational.