The Pahrump Valley cross country team went to the Palo Verde Labor Day Classic at Sunset Park last Saturday.
Palo Verde divided the fields by freshmen and sophomores and then juniors and seniors.
The freshmen boys from Pahrump had two new runners show up in the top 25 out of 119 runners. Bryce Odegard finished in 6th place with a time of 18:26.3 on the 5,000-meter course. Layron Sonerholm finished 17th for the boys with a time of 19:23.0.
Sophomore Dylan Montgomery was the next runner for the boys finishing 54th with a time of 21:44.2. Freshman Stephen Thelaner finished 63rd with a time of 21:52.5.
For the juniors and seniors, Morgan Adams had the best time finishing 70th with a time of 21:59.2 and he was followed by Nicholas Iwinski who finished 79th with a time of 22:48.1.
Trojans Coach Matt Kolozieczyk was pleased with how the boys placed. “It has been awhile since we had a guy finish and get an individual medal and we had two of them last Saturday,” he said. The coach said to get an individual medal runners had to finish in the top 20 or 25.
Kolozieczyk wants his boys to slow down at the beginning of the course. “I think all the ninth grade boys sprinted the first 100 meters. I think if they slow it down a bit, that should help their times. I think all my guys got caught up going too fast in the initial mile and they were hurting after the first mile,” he said.
The freshman and sophomore girls were led by Ashley Floyd, who was 69th with a time of 28:29.5. The girls cross country team is definitely in a rebuilding year. The girls team placed ninth out of nine teams.
Senior Daville Ansick was the top finisher for the Trojans finishing 70th with a time of 26:28.7 and she was followed closely by junior Fenny Descuatan who finished 71st with a time of 26:33.8. Shiloa Gulden finished next in 74th with a time of 26:55.4.
As far as the girls go, the coach said they had a valiant effort. “I think the girls can improve on their times. Daville can shave at least a minute and a half off her time. Fenny took some time off to travel and her time will also come down,” Kolozieczyk remarked.
The team will be at the Larry Burgess Invitational Small School Race at Veterans Memorial Park on Saturday at 8 a.m.