Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First

Longhorn Cross Country Hosts Kimball Invite Friday

The Kimball Cross Country Team will be running on familiar hills and dales this Friday as they host their own Kimball Invite at the Four Winds Golf Course area with a start time of 12 noon. pectators are welcome to come out and cheer on the runners.

This past week the Kimball runners were at Gering and although no one made it into the top 10 medal group, coach Tiffany Johnson still had some good performances from her young squad. With only four girls in the High School Small School Division

Kimball finished 6th with 104 points. Sophomore Chantel Malson was just 3 places out of a medal finishing 13th with a time of 24:00.11 over the 5,000 meter course at Five Rocks. Raven Johnson ran 41st in 28:06, Brandi Councilman 43rd in 31:44, and Alycia Vrbas 44th in 36:12.

The Kimball High boys finished 5th in the field of 7 teams with 102 points and freshman Matthew Johnson ran 20th in the field of 53 runners with a time of 20:45. Connor Cluff ran 33rd in 22:04, Rene Raymundo 36th in 22:55, Cole Henton 38th in 23”34, Xavier Thomas-­Lewis 43rd in 24:46, and Lane Wawielewski 51st in 29:12.

Coach Johnson has a large turnout of young runners on her junior high team with 10 boys and 3 girls. In the boys division, Kimball finished 5th in the team standings out of 10 schools with 109 points.

From a field of 99 runners, Joseph Bremer ran Kimball’s best finish placing 27th in 13:36.55 over the 3,000 meter course. Fernando Raymundo ran 33rd in 13:45.5, Cody Brinkman 36th in 13:50.75 Braylon Miller 39th in 14:01.3, Trenton Hottell 51st in 14:39.61, Derek Kauffman 58th in 14:56.12, Brandon Paxton 85th in 17:34.72, Draco Miller 86th in 17:37.22, and Landon Norberg 96th in 19:19.8.

There were 86 runners in the girl’s junior high division, and Shannon Marks ran Kimball’s best finish of 52nd with her time listed at 17:24.75. Ashlie Barker ran 81st in 20:49, and Kylie Osborn ran 83rd in 21:45.

Coach Johnson said, “We had a lot of kids show improvement and ran better times. Matthew (Johnson) is just a freshman and he is looking good and getting used to running the longer distance. Chantel (Malson) is doing good but her best races are still to come.”

Again, race time tomorrow (Friday) at the Four Winds Golf Course is listed at 12 noon.