KELSEY CHMIEL SECOND AT NIKE CROSS NATIONALS
Kinetic RC 6th at NXN, FM 4th overall
PORTLAND, OR >> New York high school cross country continued to leave its mark on the national stage as Saratoga Springs High School runners, competing as part of the Kinetic RC finished sixth overall Saturday morning at the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon.
Saratoga Springs senior Kelsey Chmiel finished second overall at 16 minutes, 54.8 seconds.
New York runner Katelyn Tuohy repeated as the overall champion, setting a new course record at 16:37.8.
In the team competition, Central Oregon captured the team title with 120 points followed by North Naperville at 186 and Wayzata, MN third at 207. Manlius RC finished fourth with 212 points followed Niwot at 219 and Kinetic RC sixth overall with 228 points.
Chmiel was the top Kinetic RC runner, second overall followed freshman Ella Kurto 45th at 18:01.9, eighth-grader McKinley Wheeler 99th at 18:43.9, eighth-grader Sheridan Wheeler 126th at 19:04.2 and seventh-grader Emily Bush 135th at 19:11.0.
Senior Ciara Knott was sixth for Kinetic RC, finishing 157th overall at 19:28.8 with her sister, eighth-grader Sklyer Knott 161st in 19:33.4.
Tuohy broke out from the field at the gun and ran wireto-wire in claiming her second title.
Chmiel ran with the top pack of seven runners, shoulder to shoulder through the two kilometer mark before she broke away to capture the runner-up trophy.
Making her fourth trip to NXN she was able to run the Glendoveer Golf Course with confidence.
“It’s been great to be here for four years,” Kelsey Chmiel said atop the podium Saturday afternoon. “Coming into the race this year I had a little bit more confidence because I knew the course pretty well.”
Chmiel ran the first kilome-
ter with the pack in 5:16.2 and broke away at 10:46.0, nine seconds off her first split.
“I just wanted to stay relaxed and then about 2k I knew I was feeling good so I wanted to pick it up a little bit,” Chmiel said.
With the race course in better shape than last year and only a light rain Saturday morning, Chmiel dropped her time by almost 30 seconds as all of her experienced teammates also produced faster times at the national cross country event.
Sheridan Wheeler dropped 27 seconds from her time last year as a seventh-grader with McKinley Wheeler dropping an eye-popping 46 seconds off her time from last year. The Knott sisters also had marked improvements, Ciara Knott dropping 40 seconds and Skyler Knott reducing her time by 50 seconds.
Closing out the afternoon, Saratoga Springs senior Shea Weilbaker finished 25th overall as an individual Saturday afternoon, covering the 5k course in 15:27.7.
It was a marked improvement for the North Carolina State-bound runner who finished what he called a ‘disappointing’ 69th last year running as an individual.
He also dropped his previous time by 42 seconds from last year’s race at the Glendoveer Golf Course.
In the boys championship race, Burnt HillsBallston Lake finished 14th overall with 323 points. Manlius finished fifth with 209 points.