The Milford cross country team got its season started with a pair of meets last week.
“We were champing at the bit to get started,” Coach Jake Kment said.
The Eagles ran at the Charlie Thorell Invitational in Seward Aug. 31 and saw a lot of personal best times, Kment said. Milford was at Minden Sept. 2 with another good day.
At Seward, junior Lilly Kenning finished fifth with a school record time of 19:12.53. The old record was 19:39, Kment said.
“It was a really tough course and tough competition,” he said.
Ellison Piening was 57th and Ambry Armbrust 76th in her first-ever varsity meet.
Kment said Piening’s time of 23:07.28 was two minutes faster than she ran the course last season. Armbrust is a freshman and handled the meet well, he said.
The boys’ team ran very well, he said, finishing second in the C/D schools behind Lincoln Christian.
Avery Carter and Gavin Dunlap led the way for the Eagles. The two ran together for most of the race. Carter finished 12th in 17:09.26, and Dunlap was 13th in 17:12.03.
Both improved their times from last year’s run, Kment said. Carter ran a new personal best time by about 25 seconds.
Garrett Freeman finished 42nd, Sylus Rakow 74th and Jack Stahl 80th. All ran good races, Kment said.
The quick turn-around between Seward and Minden is a tough way to start the season, but the Eagles answered the bell. The girls finished as the meet runner-up behind Aurora.
“It’s harder for the younger kids because they don’t have as many miles,” Kment said.
Kenning was the event champion with a 19:22 time. She ran most of the race alone, which takes strength and focus, Kment said. Her time was also 20 seconds faster than last year.
Piening was eighth and Armbrust 14th for her first high school medal. Piening ran close to her personal best time, the coach said, and finished two minutes faster than last year at Minden.
Armbrust was disappointed in her time at Seward and used that as a learning experience, Kment said.
Adyson Kroese finished 18th, Kisa Schauer 23rd, Sally Burkey 29th and Elsa Schweitzer 32nd.
The boys were without Dunlap, who was battling illness. Carter finished eighth in 17:48 and tried a different strategy in the race, Kment said. He went out faster and stayed with the top runners for about 2.5 miles, the coach said.
Freeman finished 19th, Rakow 29th, Kellen Lovitt 43rd, Stahl 44th and Jonny Kohout 51st.
Kment was pleased with how they all ran for the first week of the season.
The Eagles will host the Milford Invitational Thursday, Sept. 7, in Milford. The race will start on the driving range at Thornridge Golf Course and finish by the swimming pool, Kment said.
The last few years, the invite has been contested at Doane University in Crete.
“We wanted to give the kids a true home meet,” Kment said.
The junior high race will start at 4:15 p.m., with the high school girls to go at 4:30 p.m. and the boys to run at 5 p.m.
