Cross-country: Odegard breaks course record

Pahrump runners get better and better with more experience and sophomore Trojans cross-country runner Bryce Odegard is no exception to the rule.

The runner set a course record at the Moapa Valley Invitational on Saturday with his third win since coming in second to Chase Woods in the Faith Lutheran meet on Sept. 9. This makes four wins overall for Odegard this season.

Odegard ran an 18-minute and 2.8-second run on a soft-sand course, which is considered to be a slow 5000-meter course. Two Australian runners, Lachlan Kendall (18:50.7) and Mawien Agany (19:01.9), finished behind him for second and third. Sophomore Layron Sonerholm for the Trojans finished in seventh place (18:02.8).

The Trojans boys as a team finished in fourth place (74). The team from Australia finished in first (46) and SECTA (53) in second. Valley (57), a Division I team, finished in third.

During the week, the Trojans on Wednesday went to Boulder City and finished in third place (82). Clark was first (35) and SECTA was second (68). Odegard finished in first (17:33.4) and Sonerholm finished in sixth (18:58.6).

For Trojans cross-country coach Matt Kolodzieczyk it's a matter of simple math. If he could move a group of runners finishing in the 20-to-21 minute down to 18 and 19 minutes the Trojans boys could do some serious damage and possibly could make state. The following runners for the Trojans are running in the 20-to-21 minute range on a 5,000-meter course, sophomore Cole Goodman, freshman Sergio Sanchez and junior Stephen Thelaner.

The Trojans' second best runner, sophomore Layron Sonerholm, is hovering in the mid-18s for 5,000 meters.

Trojans coach Chris Funk believes his runners can shave some time off.

"I really think they have a mental barrier that holds them back," Funk said. "I know these runners are capable."

Sanchez believes he can do it too, but said cross-country is not the easiest sport.

"Running has been hard," Sanchez said. "I would run my hardest and fastest and I would just want to die at the end. Then people would offer me water and it feels so good. But I have done under 20 before and I know I can do it again."

He said all the new freshman look to Odegard and Sonerholm for leadership.

Odegard said he does everything he can to teach the other runners what he and Sonerholm had learned over the summer from going to cross-country camps.

"We have taught them dynamic stretching and we teach them form, but we try not to be bossy," Odegard said.

The top Pahrump runner agrees that the team needs a few more runners to break the 20-minute mark on the 5,000-meter course.

Unfortunately for the Trojans, Clark has three runners like Bryce Odegard running in the 18-second range, Brendan Palmer, Liam Jones and Harrison Kirk.

The Trojans girls finished in fourth place at Moapa (108). Australia was first (32), SECTA finished second (56) and Valley finished in third (70).

Rebecca Langley finished in first (23:18.5). Senior Trojans runner Fenny Descuatan (26:10.6) finished in 12th, and was the best runner for the team. Junior Alicia Quiroz (26:31.4) finished in 14th (26:31.4) and junior Ashley Floyd finished in 24th (27:57.8).

At Boulder City the girls again finished in fourth (85) out of eight teams. SECTA finished in first (36), Boulder City was second (47) and Clark finished in third (57). Descuatan was again the best runner for the girls finishing in ninth (25:30), Quiroz was 11th (26:14) and Floyd was 17th (27:18).