Heat and running don’t always mix, but it was no problem for the Adrian/Ellsworth Cross Country squad as they dominated their second home meet of the season against RTR and HLO. The Junior High girls set the bar extremely high for the Dragons on the day in the very first race. The young Dragons took the top four places overall and grabbed 6th as well. Lucy Thier and Keyona Klingenberg proved once again that they are a top duo in the area as they placed 1st and 2nd with times of 9:25 and 9:28. Olivia Bullerman continues to have fantastic races, placing 3rd in 9:41 and Jozie Cuperus had an impressive day and finished 4th with a time of 10:07. Mikaiah VanDyke rounded out the scoring for A/E in 6th place and clocked a 10:40. Kaitlyn Taylor wrapped with a time of 15:07. The girl’s won the meet, scoring an impressive 16 points.
The Junior High boys followed suit. Garrett Penning and Darwin Demarrius were ready for big days and finished 3rd and 4th overall. Penning completed the 2,100 meters in 9:42 and Demarrius was close behind in 10:03. Nate Onken improved from last week even with the excess heat and ran 10:42 to take 5th place. Newcomer Ben Brinkhous had a strong performance out of the gate and ran 11:13 to place 7th. Jack Rahe ran a time of 11:42 and placed 9th. Karson Altman and Cael Hendel had close races to run 12:39 and 13:08 respectively. Lane Hoffman finished the run in 16:37. The boys placed 1st as a team with a low score of 21.
The Varsity girls also had an event run. Junior Hiltyn Heitkamp led the 5,000 meter race wire to wire, winning in 24:56. Sophomore Taya Elias followed Heitkamp’s performance, running 2nd place from the starting horn, tying a personal best time of 26:03. Senior Gracia Elias came in 6th with a time of 28:41 in a good performance. Hunter Penning and Isabel Thier completed scoring for the Dragons finishing 8th and 9th overall in 29:05 and 31:39, respectively. The Dragons won the meet with a score of 21.
The Varsity boys faced a couple different teams, but were ready to take on the challenge. Linkin Bossert and Dylan Graff continued their working ways as they both finished in the top 5 and placed 3rd and 4th overall. Bossert and Graff ran 20:52 and 20:55 respectively. Micah Onken ran 22:51 through the heat and placed 8th overall. Logan Bossert was fueled by a strong start and completed the 5,000 meter run in 24:25 to place 13th. Cole Boltjes was the final scorer for A/E, pacing the run in 25:15. The Dragons finished second in the meet with a score of 44.
