Bethel cross country competes in first race of the season with no team scores
The Threshers competed at the Masterson Twilight Classic where only four boys finished the race and only three girls raced, meaning they did not qualify for team scores
HUTCHINSON — The men’s and women’s cross country teams ran their first race of the season when they traveled to Hutchinson Community College on Friday to participate in the Terry Masterson Twilight Classic.
On the men’s side running a four mile race, they had only four people finish which qualified for no team score. Individually, newcomer Braden Esau led the Threshers with a time of 22:56.7 followed by Marcus Fiedler with a 25:19, Matthew Fleck came in next for Bethel, running a 25:59.9, and lastly Seth Balzer with a 27:26.4.
“I came into the race with no expectations because it was my first cross country race ever,” said Esau from Hesston. “However, I have been putting in a lot of work to make sure I play a major part in contributing to our team. I think performance wise, I did as well as I could have for my first race but now I know I can race a whole lot faster.”
The women’s side consisted of three runners finishing a three mile race, which meant the team also did not get a score as a team. Individually, Bethany Schrag finished 21st with a time of 20:31.7, followed by Taryn Paulino finishing in 20:49.3 at 28th and lastly right behind, Emma Graber with a 20:54.4 finishing 29th.
“I’m happy with my performance considering it was the first race of the season, my teammates really helped push me during the race.” said Schrag from Valley Center. “There is still room to improve but I'm really excited for the season, it's going to be a great one.”
Although neither team got a team score due to injuries, the Thresher cross country teams look ahead with hope that their season goes up from this first meet.
“Our veteran ladies led by Bethany Schrag did exactly what I expected them to do,” said head coach Julio Martinez. “All three ran personal best on this course. Schrag missed cracking the top 20 by one spot. Freshman Sydney Hart unfortunately had a unfortunate college debut by twisting her ankle on a dark part of the course causing her to walk off the race as instructed by her coach.
The guys side was led by newcomer Braden Esau with a strong debut in his first cross country race ever. Braden ran like a veteran and will be a key runner for us this season. Senior Luke Schmidt was leading the pack until he too had an unfortunate event on the course. He on a different side of the course tripped in a branch and wiped out causing him to also DNF [did not finish] the race. Marcus coming off an illness ran a smart race, and that's all I could ask of him as a coach. Illnesses and injuries prevented us from having team scores this meet but we would rather experience these obstacles early on so we can be at 110 percent come the KCAC championships. It's a long season so we have time to make adjustments and get healthy.”
Both the men and women will compete again on Saturday at the JK Gold Classic at Wichita State University with aspirations to continue to improve and have a great season.