LAWRENCE — Iola and Humboldt cross country squads competed at the Lawrence Rim Rock race on Saturday amongst hundreds of other runners in one of the largest races of the year.
Leading the charge, once again, for Iola was senior Jesse Taylor, who finished 61st in the Blue Varsity division, the top level of competition.
Taylor finished in 18 minutes, 52.7 seconds.
Finishing not far behind in 79th was Cole Moyer, who ran a season-best 19:09.6 to place 79th. Next up was Kaster Trabuc in 111th at 19:31.3.
Travis Wanker also notched a season-best time at 20:28.7 in 173rd. Brennan Coffield finished 21:46.5, a season-best mark, to finish 255th.
Alejandro Escalante placed 313th at 23:16.1.
Jayden Silvey and Ricky Rowe both ran season-best times in a junior varsity race. Silvey finished 276th at 24:46.7; Rowe was two places behind in 278th at 24:51.6.
HUMBOLDT had four runners compete on each of the varsity girls and boys sides in a hot and tough race.
McKenna Jones began the positioning for Humboldt, placing in 144th place with a time of 24:52 while Carsyn Haviland came in 170th with a time of 25:49. Also, Tori Melendez came in 182nd with a time of 25:59 and Anna Heisler came in 194th at 26:14.
“The girls race had almost 300 runners and the boys race had 350 runners,” said Humboldt head coach Eric Carlson. “This was a good experience for us and should help prepare us for easier courses going forward.”
Lulu Melendez rounded out the top five varsity girls Cubs runners in 272nd with a time of 29:50.
On the boys side, Peyton Wallace finished with a time of 20:42, good for 194th. Brigg Shannon came in 329th with a time of 23:49 and Landon Bauer placed 334th with a mark of 24:29.
“Always a tough course and a hot day on top of that made for a hard day of running. For some of our kids this was their first experience running the Rim Rock course. This is usually the toughest course we will run all year,” said Carlson.
Caden Vink came in 347th with a time of 27:44 while Gavin Jaro placed in 348th with a time of 28:40.
Iola and Humboldt runners will be at Central Heights Thursday.
