Change in the Air for LHS Cross Country

Liberal’s cross country program has a new look in 2024.  Coach Stan Kachel retired after last season and Breanna Stewart steps in for her first year as head coach.  M.J. Foster graduates after leaving his mark with a school record at the state meet for two straight years including a 16:08.50 in 2023.  Cesar Pavia ran a 16:21 at state and graduates after Foster and Pavia made up arguably the best 1-2 combo in program history.  Daniela Cerda graduates after  finishing in 25th place with a time of 19:42.70 which was her personal best and is the fastest time ever ran at the state meet by a Liberal girl. She finishes her LHS career as the 2nd fastest girl in LHS history.

This year, LHS had 24 out for the sport with 10 boys and 14 girls.  Here are the varsity lineups to begin the season:

Boys

Alex Koerner   Sr.

Amir Darza    Sr.

Caleb Zamora    So.

Marco Rivas     So.

George Tarango    Jr.

Abel Gomez     So.

Elian Escobar     Fr.

Girls

Janaya Devorce     Sr.

Isabella Gutierrez     Sr.

Ruby Alvarez     Jr.

Sophia Lucena     Jr.

Ariana Cerda     Sr.

Destiny Ortega     Jr.

Zailee Navarro     So.

Koerner ran at state as a sophomore and is the only runner with state experience for the boys who qualified to state as a team in 2022.  The girls are more experienced.  Bella Gutierrez has run at state all three years while Janaya Devorce, Ruby Alvarez, and Ariana Cerda had two years each of state experience.  The cross country team was featured during Sportsguys Thursday morning.

Schedule

September 5- Great Bend

September 12- Hesston

September 19- Hays

September 21- Hugoton

September 27-28- Lawrence

October 5- Newton

October 12- Wichita Trinity

October 17- WAC at Hays

October 26- Regional

November 2- State