By DANTON MCDIFFETT
Assistant Cross Country Coach
With illness and injury cutting their squad to just ten runners, the Salina Central cross country runners could not compete for any team honors at the 2020 Bob Schmoekel Cross Country Invitational, held at Milford Lake on Saturday. However, varsity runners William Griffith and Isaac French continued to run well, with both earning medals on a chilly and windy day.
Griffith held the lead in the varsity boys race for a significant portion of the first half, until eventual winner Erik Enriquez of Kapaun Mt. Carmel overtook him. Enriquez’ fast time of 16:10 was more than a minute ahead of Griffith, who placed second in 17:16. Griffith showed impressive endurance and grit as he sprinted past two competitors on the final grueling uphill dash to the finish line. French ran a strong race as well, placing 15th, just under one minute behind Griffith in 18:15. Cooper Affholder, running his first race after rolling an ankle at McPherson on Sept. 24, finished in 21:02 and 45th position.
Only two girls, both juniors, competed in the varsity girls race. Cora White’s 23:09 placed her 30th. Elizabeth Young finished ten spots back at 40th with a time of 25:31.
In the junior varsity competition, three Mustangs took to the course. For the boys, Ryan Sheahon finished in 41st place with his time of 22:17 and Nick Carano came in 58th at 29:32. The sole JV girl, Taylor Helton, finished 37th with her home stretch sprint falling one second short of the girl ahead of her. Helton’s time was 28:46.
Four Mustangs ran in the shortened 4K “C” race. Freshman Angel Mendenhall continued to run hard, finishing in 13th place with a time of 24:47. Amelia Coykendall narrowly beat her personal goal of 26:00, finished in 25:59. Alison Coykendall ran the route in 28:42 for 16th place. In the boys race, Alex Riley ran in his first competition of the season after battling illness during the early weeks. He finished in 26:19 for 30th position.