Bethel cross country competes at home in Muthama-Rogers Invitational
Bethel cross country competes at home in Muthama-Rogers Invitational
The Threshers were led by Graber on the women's side and Esau on the men's side
The men’s and women’s cross country teams raced on Saturday in the Muthama-Rogers Invitational here at Bethel where results were promising and things were learned for the future of the teams, with a few top finishes.
On the women’s side, finishing first for the Threshers out of 70 total finishers was Emma Graber with a time of 20:35 who came in seventh. Next up for the Threshers was Bethany Schrag, who placed tenth, with a time of 20:52, followed by Taryn Paulino who finished with a time of 21:00 in 12th. Sydney Hart did not finish the race due to a rolled ankle, and another competitor did not race this weekend. Therefore, the women finished with no team score.
“Today was a great day for the team,” said sophomore Graber from Divide, Colo. “I personally ran the best I have all season and three of us girls were in the top 12.”
On the men’s side, out of 84 total finishers, finishing first for the Threshers was Braden Esau with a time of 28:32 in 15th, followed by Tobin Wise with a time of 28:41 in 19th, followed by Marcus Fiedler with a time of 28:52 in 20th. Matthew Fleck ran a time of 33:48 and Seth Blazer finished with a time of 35:03. Luke Schmidt did not finish the race due to the rolling of an ankle. The men finished with a team score of 122, placing fifth place out of eight teams.
“Today was not my best race,” said senior Wise from Pleasant Hill, Mo. “It was warm and the course was a little rough. I felt good the first mile, and then it went downhill from there. Braden and Marcus pushed me to finish the race when it got tough. I'll be looking forward to the next couple of weeks of training without a meet.”
The Threshers look in these results with a few top finishes for the women and promising results for the men.
“All three girls finished in the top 12 in a deep field,” said head coach Julio Martinez. “The ladies did not have a team score as one teammate had to drop out due to a rolled ankle and two others sat out this week as they are recovering from injuries. These three continue to rise to the occasion. I’m super proud of the way they represented us at our home meet. The warm weather made it a difficult race for our guys but they ran well overall. Some things we will continue to work on in the coming weeks so we can peak at the right time. Overall it was a great field with lots of competition and six of our runners placed in the top 20 in a competitive field.”
The men and women look forward to resting and healing before competing on Oct. 12th at the Carol Swenson Invite in McPherson.