Cottonwood Chronicle

Cross Country team competes at 2 meets
The Prairie Cross Country team competed at a pair of meets this past week. On Wednesday, Sept. 20, they traveled to Deyo Reservoir for the Spartan Invite. Then on Saturday, Sept. 23, they traveled to Eagle Island State Park for the Bob Firman Invitational.

Spartan Invite

Prairie had 2 first place finishers at the Spartan Invite. Evelyn Gehring took first in the high school girls race with a time of 22:44 while Phineas Fitch took first in the junior high boys race in 11:09.
The top 10 finishers received medals as Natalie Goeckner also received a medal for finishing 7^th in the high school girls race with a time of 26:37. Callie Remacle was just outside the top 10 as she placed 12^th in 28:00.
Four of the five Prairie runners in the junior high boys race received medals as Matthew Jones was 2^nd in 12:14 after passing a couple of runners in the final 200 meters. Gabe Severns was 7^th in 13:27 and Kade Hanson was 10^th in 13:58. Anthony Forsmann finished 18^th in 18:56. As a team the junior high boys placed first with 26 points, edging out host Timberline by 4 points.
Earning medals in the high school boys race were Chase VonBargen in 4^th in 19.28 and Ben Secrest in 6^th in 19:46. Dylan Klapprich was 17^th in 24:08 and Landon Riener was 21^st in 24:51.
Several high school boys and girls runners did not compete due to Homecoming activities.

Bob Firman Invitational

The Bob Firman Invitational is a huge meet with teams from all classifications all over the state competing.
Prairie’s runners competed in the JV (M-Z) races. As in runners from schools starting with the letter M to Z.
There were 396 runners in the boys race with VonBargen as Prairie’s top finisher in 121^st with a time of 20:21.0. Secrest was 184^th in 21:08.5. Jackson Enneking was 225^th in 21:40.7. Max Rehder was 332^nd in 24:16.4. Zane Uptmor was 350^th in 25:18.8. Klapprich was 353^rd in 25:27.3. Landon Riener was 367^th in 26:16.6. As a team Prairie placed 26^th out of 32 teams with 759 points.
There were 138 runners in the girls race with Elizabeth Severns finishing 87^th in 26:43.4 as the top finisher for Prairie. Remacle was 107^th in 28:20.0. Goeckner was 108^th in 28:20.3. Alaina Lustig was 120^th in 29:56.0.

Top 10 finishers received medals at the Spartan Invite. Evelyn Gehring, left, took first and received a plaque while Natalie Goeckner finished 7th.

Prairie had 4 runners finish in the top 10 of the junior high race. Matthew Jones, left, was 2nd. Phineas Fitch, middle, was first and Kade Hanson, right, was 10th. Gabe Severns, not pictured, was 7th.

The start of the boys high school race. From left are Landon Riener, Dylan Klapprich, Ben Secrest and Chase VonBargen. Secrest and VonBargen earned medals for finishing in 6th and 4th respectively. Our photo of them with the medals turned out to be out of focus.

The start of the girls high school race. From left are Natalie Goeckner, Evelyn Gehring, Callie Remacle and Alaina Lustig.

The start of the Junior High boys race. From left are Kade Hanson, Phineas Fitch, Gabe Severns, Matthew Jones and Anthony Forsmann.

This is the point where Evelyn Gehring took over first place in the high school girls race.

Natalie Goeckner

Callie Remacle and Alaina Lustig

Ben Secrest and Cahse VonBargen.. During the loop around the reservoir VonBargen would pass Secrest and wind up 2 places ahead of him.

Dylan Klapprich and Landon Riener.

Phineas Fitch crosses the dike in first place, well ahead of the group below.

Matthew Jones was in fourth at this point but passed both runners shown in the final 200 meters to finish second behind teammate Phineas Fitch.

Landon Riener, Zane Uptmor and Dylan Klapprich early in the race.

Kade Hanson and Anthony Forsmann.

Prairie 2023 Cross Country Schedule