The Britton-Hecla cross country team opened its season at the Redfield Invitational on Thursday with seven runners competing.
The local runners hosted their annual invitational yesterday (Tuesday) at the Britton Country Club. Saturday they will travel to Milbank and Monday compete in Webster.
“I was very happy with how everyone ran at our first meet,” said Symens. “It is always great to get the first one out of the way and have our new kids shake off some nerves.”
Jeris Stark led Coach Stephanie Symens’ squad with a 26th place finish in the girls varsity race with a 22:07.72 clocking over the 5K course. Teammate Livia Knecht posted a time of 23:09.89 to place 36th. B-H did not have any boys varsity runners.
Nine schools had full teams in the girls bracket with James Valley Christian topping the field with 17 points, followed by Deuel with 21, Clark-Willow Lake 26, Potter County 35, Aberdeen Roncalli 47, Great Plains Lutheran 61, Florence-Henry 65, Wolsey-Wessington 66, and Redfield 82.
Deuel and James Valley Christian tied for the boys title with 30 points, followed by Leola-Frederick with 31, Dupree 32, Faulkton Area 49, and North Central 49.
Joseph O’Brien placed 19th in the boys 3K junior varsity run with a 12:00.50 effort, while Ceci Anderson was 55th in the girls JV race in 17:16.73.
Three girls competed in the middle school division. Mia Kilker was 33rd in 9:16.31, Avery Leonard placed 36th in 9:36.49, and Lillian Boyko was 39th with a time of 9:45.81. The junior high girls bracket was the only division where Britton-Hecla had enough runners to field a full team and the group placed 10th in the 11team field.
