Lady Greenbacks win Sterling Invitational
By Melanie McGee
October 10, 2008
For the second week in a row, Pratt High School’s Cheyenne
Becker and Paul Harris claimed varsity cross-country titles, this
time at the Sterling Invitational.
In the girls varsity race, Pratt’s top five runners medalled and
the Lady Greenbacks won the meet with 47 points, well ahead of
second-place Haven’s 96.
Becker led the entire race, finishing the 4K course in 16:16.27.
The freshman’s strategy of taking the lead from the beginning of
the race worked well again, as she opened up a big lead early and
won by 1:16.
Pratt’s next four runners started out running in a pack and
finished within 41 seconds of each other.
Elizabeth Ash came in 11th in 18:08.99 as she continues to be a
solid number two runner for PHS. Elena Botello and Haley Reid
finished 14th and 15th in 18:18.43 and 18:19.24, and Lexie
Cronister was 23rd in 18:49.27.
Macy Waddle finished 65th in 23:06.99, and Hayley Henry was 69th in
24:58.11.
In the boys varsity race, Harris ran with the lead pack until the
final stretch, when he broke loose for a six-second win. The senior
finished the 5K course in 17:25.78, and was one of three Pratt
medalists.
“Paul ran a very strategic race,” PHS coach Kathy Hitz said. “He
didn’t open up that gap until the last 600 meters. It was a bunch
of four until then.”
Mario Perez took 13th in 18:19.06 and Jack Boyd was 18th in
18:39.25.
Jakob Whitson finished 27th in 19:04.98, just ahead of teammate
Evan Strong, who was 28th in 19:05.25.
Will Shoup came in 33rd in 19:09.12 and Nathan Southard was 42nd in
19:037.52.
“He had never run under 20 minutes until the Goddard meet (two
weeks ago),” Hitz said, “and since then all of his races have been
in the 19s.”
Pratt finished second as a team, scoring 79 points to finish two
points behind Hutchinson-Trinity.
If any two PHS runners had finished one spot higher, the Greenbacks
would have swept the varsity titles.
“Every position counts,” Hitz said. “It was a good lesson to learn
at this meet because one position can be the difference between
going to state and not.”
Pratt did win the sweepstakes competition, a combination of boys
and girls team scores.
In the JV boys race, Willson Worden claimed second place in
20:06.73, and Wes Vasholtz won the fourth place medal in
20:25.17.
Corey Barnard and Cole Kumberg made their season debuts, finishing
30th and 31st in 25:16.04 and 25:16.86, respectively.
PHS runners won three medals in the freshman boys 4K race.
Cassidy Hullman led a 3-4-5 finish with a time of 20:28.48. Cooper
Batman was close behind in 20:36.61, and Colin Hitz finished fifth
in 20:49.14.
Drake Dobbs took 11th in 22:16.57, and Dylan Besser was 14th in
22:42.48.
Pratt’s varsity runners will compete at the MSAA meet in Larned
next Thursday as they tune up for the Class 4A regional and state
meets.
MSAA races begin at 4:30 p.m. at Larned.
