Redskins Compete at KU

The Liberal Redskin cross country teams competed in one of the largest high school cross country meets in the United States on Saturday as they traveled to Lawrence, Kansas for the Rim Rock Classic. The legendary cross country course is home to the Kansas Jayhawks cross country teams and was the host to the Big 12 Championships in 2015. The course is known for its covered bridges, eight ponds, and silhouettes of famous Kansas runners along a skyline.
The runners were not the only ones working hard on Saturday as the high temperatures and high humidity kept the University of Kansas athletic trainers and medical staff busy with runners passing out on the course. It eventually got bad enough that the last six races of the day were all cancelled.
The Liberal girls competed in the Crimson Division along with 37 other large schools from many surrounding states. The race was 3.1 miles and had 270 girls finish the course. Katie Horyna had her first major challenge of the season as she entered the race ranked 17th and she also has been struggling with a strained calf. Horyna looked strong early as she was running in the top five until her calf started to bother her. Horyna was still able to finish in 15th place with a time of 20:34. Horyna’s time not only put her on the podium it was also the fourth best time ran by a Kansan in the race. The second Redskin of the day was Audrey Gilmore. Gilmore crossed the line in 22:24 as the 85th runner in the race. Kelsey Ramsey placed 108th and crossed the line in 22:40. Seniors Ali Lucero and Alondra Alvarado finished with times of 23:08 and 23:21 to place 137th for Lucero and 151st for Alvarado. Reece Hay got her first experience with Rim Rock Farms placing 161st place and completing the course in 23:31. Reyn Slatten was the 201st runner to cross the line with her time of 24:11. The Redskins finished with a team score of 456 which finished them in 17th place. Marquette High School in Missouri placed first with 173 points. Second place was Rogers High School out of Arkansas, and third place was Bishop Kelley high school out of Oklahoma. The top Kansas team was Overland Park Blue Valley Northwest. Other Kansas teams to finish ahead of the Redskins were Bishop Miege, Lansing, and DeSoto.
The Redskin boys top two runners were the junior duo of Xavier Perez and Javier Carrillo, who both finished in 17:50 to place 49th and 50th. Joel Obando was the 109th runner with a time of 18:19. The Redskins were led most of the race by Junior Antonio Borunda. Borunda was running in 26th place with less than a mile to go when the heat became a factor for Borunda. Borunda still finished the race but fell to 155th place in a time of 18:46. Right behind Borunda was junior teammate Fausto Parral with a time of 18:48 and 161st place. Freshman Alex Lopez was the 167th runner crossing the line in 18:52. Josh Diazdeleon ran a time of 20:54 which placed him 300th on the day. Out of the 46 schools in the Crimson division, the Redskins placed 16th with a score of 506. Seven schools from Kansas beat the Redskins. The top three schools in the race were Great Bend with a score of 187, Nixa High School from Missouri with 209 points, and Kearney High School out of Nebraska with 247 points.
The Redskins will compete next Saturday the 30th, as they travel to Newton, Kansas.