Portage is an enormous meet with schools from all around the state. It can be an intimidating circumstance lining up on a start line with over 300 runners. It was a good “big meet” experience today. Ava Crews (19:06) finished within the medals in 26th place and first for TK. Early in the race Crews was followed by Meghan Skidmore, but an unfortunate ankle turn put her on the sidelines. Stepping up to the challenge was Mady Kietzman, who ran a really strong race in 20:49, and she finished second for TK and 74th overall in the process. Next for TK was Peyton Hardy (21:35) with another solid effort, and Alaina McCrumb (22:03) who also had a strong effort, finishing 114th and 145th respectively. Avery Hageman (22:15) gave it a good go for TK and finished not long after in 156th. Rounding out the top seven in the varsity race was Holly Velting (23:01) who struggled, but gave it all she had for her team. The Trojans, all things considered, finished in a respectable 19th place out of 45.

The JV race featured Carmen Reynolds running strong and aggressively, yet intelligently throughout the entire race. She led all JV Trojans and placed in the medals in 46th out of 227 individuals. Following her was a determined Kate Powers who produced a strong effort placing 69th in 23:20, which was one of her top three times of the season. Next was Hailey Lee who gave it a good go finishing in 110th in 24:29. Having her best time of the season so far was Rayle Preston who placed 140th in 25:18. Rounding out the JV team today was Laine Hinton (29:12) who faced challenges of her own and placed in a respectable 206th on the day. There were more competitors on the course than there were full teams, but the JV team placed 14 out of 16 tough teams today. 

As we head into the OK Gold Conference Championship where we are currently in the lead and then the Regional meet where we will attempt to qualify for the State Finals, we still have a lot of work to do. However, I believe this is a resilient team that will rise up to the challenges it is facing. I’m proud of our girls for who they are, for the work they have done up to this point, and for the support they continue to give each other.