BUFFS’ CROSS COUNTRY: Friday, Sept. 11, 2020
Each fall season, the Garden City High School cross country teams find a few meets in which to compete that have a non-traditional format.
One of those is the Hesston Swather Special, and the Buffaloes ran there Thursday and came away with a pair of individual titles from sophomores Jocelyn Sosa and Devin Chappel.
Sosa captured the sophomore version of the 5-kilometer race with a brilliant time of 19:24.0 to win her division by 40 seconds over Haley McCormick of Great Bend. Sosa’s time was the second fastest overall compared to the Senior, Junior and Freshman divisions. Dodge City’s Serenity Larson had the day’s fastest mark of 18:57.6.
Chappel, meanwhile, clocked the overall fastest mark of all four class divisions, running the 5-K race in 16:20.4. That was faster than any senior, junior or freshman.
Chappel’s effort, which combined with the highest finishes in each class to determine team scores, led the Buffaloes’ boys to a runner-up finish to rival Dodge City by the narrowest of margins, 42-43 points. The Lady Buffs, meanwhile, placed fifth among 10 teams with 37 points. Great Bend and Dodge City took the top two team spots with 13 and 16 points, respectively.
The boys squad had several solid top 5 finishes in their age groups as senior Brody Hoff placed third in a time of 17:07.1, and sophomore Evan Gurrola (18:08.7) and junior Isaiah Casados (17:48.1) were fifth in their age groups. Junior Kenji Craig had a sixth place finish in the junior division with a time of 17:48.1.
On the girls side of the competition, senior Selah Hgeman was fifth in 22:01.8 and junior Maria Balderas was eighth in 21:45.0. Those were the only other top 10 performers.
Here are the remaining results from Thursday’s Hesston meet:
Boys: Freshman–11. Paul Elliott, 19:41.6; 13. Ivan Rivas, 19:47.9; 14. Chris Plisek, 19:53.4; Sophomore–17. Hayden Bailey, 19:27.1; 37. Rylan Anderson, 24:22.8; Junior–12. Joel Contreras, 18:16.8; 21. Aedryc Ortiz, 19:26.6; 23. Josh Snyder, 20:24.0; Senior–Jesus Alvarado-Retana, 20:45.6; 25. Jimmy Lieu, 20:44.8.
Girls: Freshman–22. Ruby Aguilera, 26:00.9; 27. Jennifer Andrade, 27:35.1; Sophomore–11. Samantha Orozco, 22:57.1; 12. Anna Lobmeyer, 22:59.2; 17. Joscelyn Monarrez, 23:51.3; 26. Paige Chappel, 25:18.1; Junior–13. Andrea Hernandez, 22:30.0; 26. Leslie Jimenez, 24:59.6; 27. Joselyn Hoff, 25:23.5; Senior–18. Abby Aguilar, 23:57.7; 19. Rebecca Potts, 24:01.7.
The teams will next be in action on Sept. 17 at the Hays Invitational.
Garden City High School 