The cross country team proved that they can run in any conditions on Saturday, Sept. 17. Running on a new course in 56 degree weather, the team went out and put down the miles.
The girls team competed in their second 4K of the year and varsity placed ninth out of 18 teams. Mill Valley High School girls’ top runner senior Kati Strickland medaled with a time of 16:41 and received a medal for placing 24th. The JV girls’ team received 12th place out of 14 teams, and were lead by senior Kylie Pfannenstiel who had a time of 18:34.
The boys team had a successful meet, as varsity finished second out of 20 teams. Senior Connor Mehalovich was first on the team and placed 14th overall with a time of 17:38, closely followed by sophomore Landon Scott who placed 16th overall. Both Mehalovich and Scott medaled, as well as juniors Chris Gillespie and Andrew Eigsti. The boys team was tied with Topeka-Seaman High School in total points, but held them off with the help of sophomore Graham Wilson beating Seaman’s sixth runner.
Cross country head coach Mark Chipman said he is expecting good results in the upcoming meets, especially at the Cat Classic Invitational.
“We did pretty well, but I wish that we had defended last year’s win,” Chipman said. “De Soto just ran a good race and ended up winning. They had a good race.”
The JV boys team ran well, taking first place out of 17 teams. Leading the entire pack of 237 runners was sophomore CJ Meeks in a time of 18:10. Overall, the team won by a margin of 65 points, and ten out of the top fifteen individuals were Mill Valley runners.
The team’s next meet will be at KU Rim Rock Farm on Saturday, Sept. 24.
