Perkins County XC races at CC

Thursday, Sept. 9 the Perkins County cross country team laced up their sneakers for the Chase County invite. The team earned three individual medals at the meet.

There were 16 teams present at last week’s race, with 89 boys competing and 61 girls.

Coach Seth Burge noted the day was warm and humid, and there wasn’t much of a breeze.

“I think we can all agree it’s time for some nice cool weather to run in!” he said.

In the boys race, senior Colton Pouk placed third with a time of 18:08.20, a time that was only about 12 seconds over the personal record he has set for Chase County’s course.

Freshman Mason McGreer was also toward the front of the pack, finishing in 11th place with a time of 19:00.50.

Sophomore Meredith Gloy finished 13th in the girls race with a time of 23:06.30, a 40-second improvement from her time last year and new personal record.

“Gloy’s hard work during the summer and at practice is finally coming to fruition for her,” Burge said. “She is keeping up with girls that were far ahead of her in races as an underclassman. Pouk has also pulled away from the pack he was used to running with as an underclassman.”

Burge also noted freshman Brock Tines and junior Johan Mireles worked hard to set personal records this week. Tines finished with a time of 21:21.90 and Mireles completed the race in 27:11.80.

The team faced tough competition at Imperial, but Burge said he is proud of Pouk, Gloy and McGreer in particular for not letting the athletes from bigger schools push them out of the medals. He added that McGreer and Gloy both improved their times from last week by over 30 seconds, earning each of them a career personal best.

As a team, the boys scored seventh with a total of 142 points. St. Pat’s took first for the boys teams, Ogallala finished second and Hershey ended the day in third.

The girls finished sixth overall with 87 points. Ogallala was in first, St. Pat’s in second and Cambridge in third.

One of the things Burge noticed over the course of race day was the presence of familiar Perkins County faces at the competition to support the runners.

“Our runners thrive on this and love the support from the community,” he said. “I think this makes an impact and helped all of our athletes run well this week. We really appreciate that support.”

Chase County Invite Results

Boys: Colton Pouk, 3rd, 18:08.20; Mason McGreer, 11th, 19:00.50; Brock Tines, 39th, 21:21.90; Brient Wood, 71st, 24:37.70; Johan Mireles, 81st, 27:11.80; Jordan Mireles, 87th, 31:05.00.

Girls: Meredith Gloy, 13th, 23:06.30;  Ava Reese, 28th, 26:40.90; Hallie Fisher, 32nd, 27:15.80; Maggie Fisher, 34th, 27:37.80.

Next Action

The next meet for the Perkins County runners will be Thursday, Sept. 16 at Heritage Hills Country Club in McCook. The first race of the day will begin at 4 p.m.

“This course might be the most challenging in terms of elevation differences throughout the run,” Burge said. “We will also see bigger schools, and a long range forecast shows it will likely be warm.”

To practice, the team spent Monday and Tuesday preparing for McCook’s hill-covered golf course by working out on local hills, “including the infamous ‘Kiolbasa Hill’ west of Grant,” according to Burge.