PHS Cross Country
Cross Country Competes at O’Neill
by Taylor Compton
The Pierce High cross country runners competed at the O’Neill meet on Friday, September 18. The Pierce boys team finished first with a score of 23. For this meet, Pierce only had three varsity girls competing, so they were not able to place as a team.
Individually, Mason Sindelar was the meet champion, and he set a new course record with a time of 15:55. Finishing fifth was Gavin Geneski with a time of 17:08. Christopher Efta finished eighth with a time of 17:37. Right behind him was Brock Bolling who finished ninth with a time of 18:15, and right behind him was Ashton Koch finishing 10th with a time of 18:17. Blake Bolling finished 16th with a time of 18:43, and Colt Arnold finished first on JV with a time of 20:09.
Mason Sindelar said, “It was a really good race. I personally thought everyone improved a lot. I’m excited to see what comes of us for the rest of the season both boys and girls.”
For the girls individually, Alexus Sindelar finished second with a time of 19:20, Callie Arnold finished fourth with a time of 20:12, and Payten Simmons finished seventh with a time of 20:30.
Coach Gary Shada commented on the meet, saying, “All of the runners competed very well. The running conditions were just what distance runners wanted, and we took advantage of that. This was the first time the boys had their full complement of runners compete and what they did was very impressive.”
The runners travel to Yankton on Thursday, September 24.
Pierce XC Trumps Wayne Meet
by Kaila Spieker
The Pierce cross country team traveled to Wayne on Monday, September 14, to run against many different teams. To start off with the girls, Alexus Sindelar received first place with a time of 20:31.03. Next with second place was Payten Simmons with a time of 21:36.75, and Callie Arnold with a time of 21:49.85 got third place.
Unfortunately, the girls did not have enough people to make up a whole team score this meet, but will soon make up a whole team!
One of the girl’s runners, Payten Simmons said, “I’m super excited to have the opportunity to have a girls team. It's been about 8-9 years since Pierce has had a girls team, and I believe we can accomplish great things with the athletic and competitive girls we have.”
For the boy’s individual scores, Mason Sindelar earned second place with a time of 17:08.57, Gavin Geneski received third 17:52.50, and Christopher Efta got 11th place with a time of 18:59.11. Getting 14th place was Blake Bolling with a time of 19:41.53, Ashton Koch had a time of 20:17.05 and received 20th place, and Colt Arnold got 28th place with a time of 20:54.86.
All together the boys team received second with 30 points edged out by Norfolk Catholic who beat the Jays by 3 points finishing with 27 points.
Head coach Gary Shada said, “I want to start teaching them that ‘it's not about me it's about we’ so even if they didn’t have a good performance, then they should still cheer on and encourage their other team members.”
For the runner’s next meet, they will travel to Yankton on Thursday, September 24.