The Bluejay Runners Take on the Mud in O’Neill
By Kendall Shada
After deciding if the race should be run or not Friday, September 18, the O’Neill head coach decided it would be after all the rain from the night before.
To begin with the varsity girls, Bailee Thelen was the first Bluejay runner to cross the finish line with a time of 28:06.50, placing 37th. Quinn Streff was the next Bluejay ending with a time of 30:38.30, placing 45th.
Moving on to the boys' side of things, they finished in fourth place as a team, and the first Bluejay runner coming across the finish line was Kendall Shada with a time of 16:58.20, placing first. Next was Blaine Anson, placing 16th, ending with a time of 18:43.90. Then, Maxwell Weber crossed the finish line in 34th place with an end time of 20:28.80. Emmett Hervet placed 45th with an ending time of 21:28.00.
“I think I ran pretty well. It felt like that run was a lot better than I have been running all season, and that is the way I should have been running,” Weber states. “Some things that I can work on are my start at the beginning of the race and trying to pace with Blaine to stay with him throughout the race so that I can be in a position to place highly in the races.”
Running in the junior varsity boys' race were Kohen Gordon and William Blank. Gordon placed 22nd with a time of 24:28.70, and Blank placed 36th with an ending time of 26:16.60.
The weather at the beginning of the day was very beautiful, with a temperature of 70 degrees. Later on, at the start of the boys' race, the clouds started to disappear, and the sun started to shine, raising the temperature to 80 degrees and 64% humidity. The boys started to feel the heat later on in the race and finished sweaty, muddy, and very dirty.
“I was happy with how everyone ran. Most everyone came close to or ran their fastest time of the year, so we are trending in the right direction,” head coach Gary Shada states. “Moving forward, we need to make sure we are maximizing each and every practice because we are nearing the halfway point of our season, and soon we will be wondering where it went.”
You can see the Pierce High cross country team in action Thursday, September 24, in Yankton at Fox Run Golf Course starting at 4:15 p.m.
