Cross Country Team On Top At Eagles Own Invitational

GVHS’s Cross Country Invitational hosted at Grain Valley North Middle School on Saturday, September 29 th was an all-around success for the team. Five Grain Valley boys finished in the top 10. Four of the team’s girls finished in the top 10 and both teams claimed team titles at the event.

Freshman Ella Casey continues to rack up first place finishes, this time with a 5K finish time of 19:29.50. Alaina Valverde had another strong finish, coming in 6 th with a time of 21:15.80. Valerie Holcomb finished in 8 th place with a time of 21:33.40 and Kyla Huber rounded out the top 10 with a time of 22:17.50.

Royce Fisher finished third for the Boys at 17:16.60. Collin Clemens was fourth with a time of 17:31.10. Also finishing in the top 10 was Isaac Bird (6th, 17:54.50), Jaxson Jarman (8th, 17:59.50), and Mason McCain (10th, 18:14.80).

“It is tough to pick out just one performance that stood out this past weekend. We had so many of our athletes step up and push themselves to places they haven't been yet. Of our 27 athletes that raced on Saturday, 25 of them ran season best times on a course that is known throughout the state to be pretty challenging,” Head Coach Nick Small said.

“This speaks to their desire to continue to get better not just on race day but at practice as well. Freshman Isaac Burd really took this to heart these past few weeks. He went from running Junior Varsity for us a couple of weeks ago to placing 3rd on our varsity team and 6th overall in the race on Saturday. He took over 1 minute off of his already impressive time. This didn't just start on race day, like so many of our athletes, Isaac is an example of how hard work in practice and doing all of the little things from diet and sleep, through practice to meet day can really add up to significant gains,” Small said.

Beyond the performance of his team, Small was grateful for the support of the district maintenance department, volunteers, and staff in preparing for the Grain Valley Invitational. The event included a “Sock It to Cancer” theme, raising funds for and awareness of breast cancer.

“Everyone really put their best foot forward in a meet that represents fighting a disease that we have all felt the impact of in some way,” Small said.

The team heads to Kearney on October 6th for the Suburban Blue Conference Championships meet. This is the first year the team will compete in this conference.

“With a few injuries plaguing our boys side and some key missing pieces on our girls team, our coaching staff is excited to see who will be next to step up for us in this inaugural year in the conference,” Small said.