The Hays High cross country team competed in the Great Bend Invitational on Sept. 2 at Lake Barton. The meet, which normally starts in the afternoon, was moved to 10 a.m. for cooler running conditions.

Hays had 35 athletes running at the meet: 17 girls and 18 boys. Buhler, Dodge City, Garden City, Great Bend, McPherson and Salina South were the other schools that competed at the meet. Varsity and junior varsity ran a five-kilometer (3.1 mile) race while C team ran a two-mile race.

Following closely behind lead runner sophomore Brenlynn Albers (22:53:00), junior Amelia Jaeger finished with a time of 23:00:00. The varsity girls team took third place with a team score of 96 points.

“I think that it was a good meet to get under our wings and to really get us ready for the rest of the season,” Jaeger said. “I think the girls competed well, but there is always room for improvement.”

The varsity boys team took sixth place with a score of 132 points, led by sophomore Leo Hernandez with a time of 19:21:00.

“I think for a lot of us it was a true preseason meet,” Hernandez said. “We hadn’t time trialed, and for many of us, this was the second week running, so there were some preparation issues there.”

The full results are listed below:

Girls:

V – sophomore Brennlynn Albers – 16th (22:53:00)

V – junior Amelia Jaeger – 17th (23:00:00)

V – sophomore Julia Zadina – 24th (23:51:00)

V – sophomore Arely Maldonado – 25th (23:57:00)

V – sophomore Mika Zimmerman – 30th (24:26:00)

V – sophomore Brynn Kinderknecht – 31st (24:29:00)

V – junior Jaycine Watson – 32nd (24:31:00)

V – junior Avery Winter – 35th (25:04:00)

V – sophomore Addison Otte – 41st (26:09:00)

JV – junior Nayeli Cisneros – Seventh (26:00:00)

JV – freshman Marisa Wasinger – 29th (30:58:00)

JV – freshman Ava Ruiz – 31st (31:30:00)

JV – sophomore Lexi Burton – 32nd (31:59:00)

JV – freshman Taylor Sterling – 33rd (32:46:00)

JV – junior Nia Kaiser – DNF

C – senior Lainey Hardman – 16th (19:21:00)

C – senior Aaliyah Neuburger – 20th (21:40:00)

Boys

V – sophomore Leo Hernandez – 21st (19:21:00)

V – freshman Taevian Maupin – 24th (19:53:00)

V – senior Brayden Hines – 31st (21:11:00)

V – senior Landon Viegra – 35th (21:26:00)

V – sophomore Ty Dempsey – 46th (24:11:00)

V – senior Matthew Dempsey – DNF

JV – sophomore Tacoma Augustine – 15th (21:23:00)

JV – sophomore Everett McClure – 30th (23:27:00)

JV – sophomore Carter Muehleisen – 34th (23:41:00)

JV – freshman Carson Avery – 39th (24:09:00)

JV – sophomore Gavin Flaska – 45th (24:32:00)

JV – junior Daimon Lang – 49th (24:49:00)

JV – sophomore Riley Atkerson – 54th (25:07:00)

JV – junior Logan Chance – 62nd (26:01:00)

JV – sophomore Corben Avery – 66th (27:15:00)

JV – freshman Landon Hardman – 69th (27:53:00)

JV – senior Ryan Schuckman – 71st (29:57:00)

JV – sophomore Xavier Ellis – 73rd (31:33:00)