| Girls
team qualifies for State
The Prairie girls crosscountry team placed at the District meet Thursday, Oct. 22, at Farragut State Park and qualified for the State Meet, which is Saturday, Oct. 31, also at Farragut State Park. According to coach Glenn Poxleitner Prairie and Logos tied with 61 points each and the first tiebreaker between the teams was the finish of the 6th team member. Since Logos only had 5 team members, having 6 team members sent the Prairie team to State. Prairie’s boys team finished 6th and only the top 3 teams qualified for state. Individually Kylie Tidwell finished fourth overall in 23:21.4 while Leah Higgins was 7th in 24:08.8. They would have qualified for State as individuals if the team hadn’t qualified. Hope McIntire finished 19th in 27:16.1, Kodie Tidwell was 25th in 28:47.8. Madison Ulmer was 29th in 29:38.2 and Sydney Bruner was 30th in 29:49.9. McIntire came from behind to edge out a Logos runner to help create the tied team score. We’re not sure how it will work at State with Higgins and Bruner also being on the volleyball team as you need at least 5 runners to compete as a team. Kylie Tidwell would be able to compete regardless. For the boys team the top finisher was Grant Gehring in 31st in 21:18.3. The top 16 runners qualified for state as individuals. Anthony Karel was 40th in 22:40.6. James Villamor was 44th in 24:29.2. Ryan Glimp was 45th in 25:28.6 and Brandon Latimer was 47th in 28:29.2. The 1A girls race at State is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31. From the coach The following article arrived too late to get into this week's print edition. Times just can’t seem to do justice to the efforts of the young athletes running cross country, so here is a little bit of the details to go with it. This is a 3.2 mile course with varying degrees of terrain and up and down hills. Our boys’ team has just continued to improve through the whole season. Each and every one of them improved their times for the season. Although they didn’t make it to state, I think they understand what effort it might take to get there. Grant Gehring took off about 3 minutes off his previous best time. That is an incredible minute per mile reduction. Anthony Karel who has been limited all season by knee issues finishes strong at the end. James Villamor steadily improves and seems like he is finding the ability to be a consistent runner in every race. Ryan Glimp exemplifies the leader you want for all your teams, encouraging and always giving 100%. Brandon Latimer, there because he wanted to be in shape for basketball, ran by far his best race of the year. I hope each of them found a little something out about themselves. A belief in what they can achieve and a knowledge that hard work will make a difference. On the girl’s side, we went in as the underdogs. In a meeting with the girls just before the race I asked each of them to dig in deep and run hard. But the one thing that makes me so proud of them is I asked them to all pass that one more person, Chase down and not let people pass you. Cross Country is all about beating one more person to lower your score. Running their best times of the year the team qualified for State. But there is a little story to each one of these girls runs. Kylie Tidwell placing 4th held off a hard chasing girl to hold her spot. Leah Higgins placing 7th was being chased by a couple young ladies at the end. Hope McIntire sprints out the last 400 feet to chase down and beat a Logos runner by 2 tenths of a second. Kodie Tidwell comes into the final stretch exhausted but holds off the runners behind her. Madison Ulmer and Sydney Bruner come into the final stretch ahead of a Logos runner and finish it out to hold their positions. Why is this all important? Because we end up in a tie for second with Logos. A team who maybe should have beat us, with all of these girls pushing themselves to the limit and taking or holding their spots we are tied. I can say that if anyone girl had backed off we come in third. Each and every one of them contributed to the state qualifying effort. We win the tie breaker because of the effort of our 6th runner Sydney and in the first year of cross country, Prairie is off to STATE. Very proud of you all and I look forward to next year. Thank you to Mr. Dave Young and Mrs. Jenny Arnzen for working as a team with these young athletes. As coaches we are very happy and excited about the future. Next year should be even better with these and more athletes all contributing and having fun doing it. Glenn Poxleitner 
The girls crosscountry team with their plaque and medals. From left are Kylie Tidwell, Kodie Tidwell, Sydney Bruner, Leah Higgins, Madison Ulmer and Hope McIntire. Kylie and Leah each received a medal for finishing high enough to qualify for state as individuals. Photo by Kellie Bruner. 
The Crosscountry team and coaches at the Regional meet last Thursday, Oct. 22. Front from left are Kylie and Kodie Tidwell. Middle from left are James Villamor, Brandon Latimer, Leah Higgins, Madison Ulmer, Hope McIntire, Sydney Bruner and assistant coaches Jenny Arnzen and David Young. Back from left are coach Glenn Poxleitner, Brandon Latimer, Ryan Glimp, Anthony Karel and Grant Gehring. Photo by Kellie Bruner.
PHS Crosscountry Schedule |
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