The first week of the season was a busy one for the Milford cross country team. The Eagles ran at the Charlie Thorell Invite in Seward Sept. 4 and at Minden Sept. 6.
Coach Jake Kment said the meet at Seward is always challenging with the majority of the teams in Classes A and B.
“With our team being pretty young and inexperienced, we were excited to see how they did when thrown into a highly competitive meet in many of their first ever races, and they did great,” he said.
Avery Carter led the Eagles with an eighth-place finish and time of 17:03.16 in the boys’ race. He was the top Class C/D finisher. Jonny Kohout finished 39th win an overall personal best time of 18:30.15.
Easton Sample also ran an overall PR of 19:05.92 to finish 56th. Aiden Verwey was the team's fourth runner, placing 69th in 19:37.84 as a freshman.
"It was a great first run for him," Kment said.
Sylus Rakow, Yoan Montero and Adler Armbrust were the rest of the MHS team.
"With three brand-new runners, including two freshmen, it was great to get an idea of where we are," Kment said.
For the girls, freshman Macie Carter placed 14th in 20:38.92. Her time is the fifth fastest girls’ 5K in Milford history, Kment said. Abby Crabtree and Elsa Schweitzer finished 54th and 67th, respectively. Their times were both one to two minutes faster than last year at this time, Kment said.
Two freshmen ran their first cross country races – Addelynn Gurnsey and Olivia Augustyn.
"The highlights on the girls' side were seeing our veteran runners (Elsa and Abby) start this year running significantly faster than last year, and our freshman girls surprising themselves with how well they ran in their first race," Kment said.
At Minden, Kohout led the boys’ team with a 15th-place finish in 18:05.35. Kment said it’s good to see his hard work paying off after dealing with injuries last season.
"After a tough freshman season when he joined the team late and was just trying to figure out how to run, he worked incredibly hard and was set to have a great sophomore season before he got injured," Kment said. "Now in his junior year, it was special to see that hard work pay off with a medal in such a competitive meet."
Sample placed 19th and Verway 20th, both running personal best times. Rakow rounded out the scoring in 25th place, and Montero was 35th.
Macie Carter led the girls again, earning fourth in 19:48.37.
“For a girl to go sub-20 is extremely impressive, let alone a freshman in her second meet,” Kment said. "Just a few weeks ago, her goal was to break 21 minutes this season, so we'll need to set some new goals."
Abby Crabtree finished 14th in 21:28.08, an overall personal best time. Her previous best was at state last season.
"Beating that time so early in the year is a great sign," Kment said.
Schweitzer ran close to an overall personal best time but beat her previous best time on the course at Minden. She ran that at districts last year, the coach said.
Gurnsey, Augustyn and Cayla Adams each finished with personal best times, and Ambry Armbrust rounded out the team.
The Eagles will host their home meet Thursday, Sept. 11, with the high school girls starting at 4:30 p.m. and the boys to follow at Thornridge Golf Course.
