JEFFERSON — The Panorama cross country teams had another strong outing Thursday, with the Panther girls placing second among 10 teams and the Panther boys fourth in an 11-team field at the Greene County Invitational.
“The kids were disappointed with their times, but the coaches were pleased,” Panther head coach Greg Thompson said. “Due to Labor Day and the weather this week we didn’t get to have a very normal practice week, which may have had some effect on their mental preparation for this race. With a home meet this week and a desire to improve, the teams are eager to race again. I love that attitude!”
CMB won the 122-runner girls Class A race with 40 points, with Panorama second with 99 points, one better than West Marshall (100). AC/GC (102) was fourth and Roland-Story (156) fifth, with Colo-NESCO (157), Ogden (166), WCV (166), SE Valley (222) and South Hamilton (234) completing the field.
Kate Crawford and Emma Swanson from AC-GC finished 1-2 in 20 minutes, 28.66 seconds and 21:04.23, but Panorama juniors Brianna Hoffman and Devyn Kemble were close behind, finishing third and seventh, respectively, in 21:11.65 and 21:42.49.
Panther sophomores Taylor Rishel (24:27.22), Lydia Knapp (24:39.87) and Brooke Behrends (24:44.94) were 26th, 31st and 32nd to wrap the team scoring. Maddie Knapp (33rd, 24:48.43) and Lydia Lundstrom (38th, 25:07.88) also ran for the varsity.
Others competing for the Panther girls were Bryn Steffen, Emily Smith, Mallorie Pittman, Maggie Smith, Molly Simmons and Maisie Knapp.
South Hamilton was last in the girls team race but won the boys side with 59 points. AC-GC was second at 70, Ogden third at 123 and Panorama fourth at 143. DMC (151), R-S (156), SE Valley (168), WCV (169), CMB (171), West Marshall (239) and Audubon (278) were also in action.
Ogden’s Andrew Stumbo won in 16:19.27m, with SE Valley’s Spencer Warehime second in 16:23.46.
Juniors Danny Nordquist (17th, 18:13.54) and Josh Carstens (28th, 18:43.89) were the top two Panthers, with seniors George Appleseth (30th, 18:45.95) and Mitch Wagler (32nd, 19:01.15) and junior Kaleb Randel (36th, 19:20.68) also scoring. Sam Webster (37th, 19:20.92) and senior Austin Behrends (50th, 20:16.13) were the other varsity runners for the Panthers among the 173 entrants.
Erik Olsen, Drew Hafner, Lucas Wasson, Bryant Thompson, Tanner Kuta, Jared Stagg and Colton Stogdill ran the course for Panorama as well.
Two-mile junior high races were also held, with the Panther girls dominating with a winning score of 41, easily besting Nevada (61) for top honors. Class A and Class AA teams were combined for both junior high events.
Ella Waddle (grade 8, 12:52.72) was first to finish, with Angel Poldberg (G7, 14:00.35) the runner-up. Laci Rishel (G7, 15:17.65) was eighth, Gwen Steffen (G8, 15:21.79) ninth and Grace Webner (G7, 16:04.39) 21st for the Panthers. Also running were eighth graders Olivia Steffen (16:29.56) and Abby Cobb (16:50.72).
Abbi Holloway, Kinsey Muyskens, Rachel Marwedel and Gracie Phillips — all seventh graders — also competed for Panorama.
The Panther boys were 12th in their race, with eighth graders Logan Christie (16:56.29) and Paul Hansen (17:33.12) placing 57th and 64th. Seventh-graders Kevin Cogil (18:39.4), Alec Mills (19:06.31) and Avery Norman (20:58.98) finished 68th, 70th and 75th for Panorama.
Panorama returns to action Thursday when they host the Panther Invitational.
