Liberal’s Slatten Wins Hays Meet

The Liberal Redskin Cross Country teams joined 17 other Kansas teams at the Hays High School Cross Country Invitational. Teams in attendance included Salina Central, Salina South, Junction City, Maize South, as well as all Western Athletic teams. The teams had to battle the wind and heat along with each other.
The varsity girls were led by the sophomore trio of Camryn Slatten, Saw Ahmara, and Yanelly Jurado. Camryn Slatten went out with the lead group which featured some of the top runners in Western Kansas, several of which with races won already this year. The lead pack went through the first mile under 6:15; that is when Slatten made her move. “Camryn ran a perfect race, she let the front pack take the race out and then she didn’t hesitate to take the race over. She surged at the right times, and made the other girls run her race” said Coach McGuire. Slatten finished with the win 15 seconds in front of second place. Ahmara was the sixth runner to complete the 4 kilometer race with a time of 17:12. Jurado was the next Redskin runner to cross the line in 15^th place at 17:36. Freshman Tania Minjarez finished in 27^th place with a time of 18:45. Senior Allyson Nondorf’s time of 19:00 minutes was good enough for 29^th place, while Sophomore Karen Hernandez nipped at her hills finishing in 19:04. Freshman ReynSlatten completed the course in 20:35 finishing in 49^th place. The Lady Skins ended the day with the second best team score, behind Dodge City.

The Redskin boys attacked the 5 kilometer course looking to compete side by side some of the top teams in the state. The Redskins were led by Senior Obed Quintana. Quintana went out right behind the lead pack which consisted of 5 WAC runners. Quintana ran stride for stride with the leaders for the first two miles of the race before falling back several seconds. Quintana made a final push over the last half mile to split the leaders finishing in third with a time of 17:22. Juniors Greg McClurg and Alex Chance teamed together to move through the field to finish in 13^th and 19^th with times of 18:04 and 18:33. Seniors Ivan Aleman and Jerry Valdez finished in 24^th and and 29^th place with times of 18:48 and 19:01. Sophomore Juan Beltran logged a time of 19:13 as the 32^nd runner to cross the line. Junior Ryan Doll was the 42^nd runner with a time of 19:52. The Redskins ended the night in 4^th place behind three 6A schools: Garden City, Dodge City, and Junction City. The Redskins had a bright spot in the Junior Varsity race as Freshman Dusty Torres finished in 8^th place in 20:29.
The Junior Varsity teams will travel to Goodard next Thursday to compete in a Varsity race, while the Varsity teams will race next Saturday at the famous Rim Rock Farms Classic hosted by the University of Kansas. Over 140 schools are set to compete Saturday at Rim Rock.