Kimball cross country teams have solid opening to season

Kimball opened the cross country season last Friday at Gering, and coach Tiffany Johnson was pleased with her team’s initial output.

The boys varsity team finished 12th and the girls varsity team took 11th place.

“For only being our first meet, I think we did good,” Johnson said. “Our newcomers all did good. The heat was tough on us. We ran against a lot of bigger schools and I was really impressed how our team did.

“I’m looking forward to a good year. The team knows what they need to work on and we will continue to improve. It’s going to be a good season.”

In the boys varsity 5,000 meter run, Brandon Barker led the team with a 19th place finish in 19:08. Up next for Kimball was Zachery Wagner in 45th with a time of 20:40. Next was Jaikob Cole, coming in at 78th, with a time of 23:20, followed in 80th place by Nicholas Thomas-Lewis with a 23:25 run time. Kaden Adrian came directly after in 81st with a time of 23:25 as well, while Joel Evertson finished 84th in 23:51.

Leading the way for the Kimball girls varsity team was Kailey Dickerson with a run time of 27:03. She finished 54th overall. After her came Alex Reader, coming in at 59th with a time of 28:43. Next was Arica McCloud at 64th with a time of 30:13, followed by Raylyn Soper at 31:26 and in 68th place.

The Kimball boys junior varsity team finished 11th on the day.

First for the JV team was Thomas Lenzen coming in at 32nd with a time of 21:54. Next was Devin Gardner in 101st place with a time of 26:45. Directly after him, coming in at 102nd, was Garrett Pederson with a run time of 26:48. Grant Golding followed with a time of 28:04 in 105th place, and Sebastian Portillo took 109th with a time of 30:05.

Kimball had two JV girls that competed Friday. Kennedy Lewis finished 54th with a run time of 31:13 and Monica Wasielweski finished 61st in 34:41.