Matt Kuyken, boys cross country
TIFFIN – At one of the state’s largest cross country meet, Fremont Ross turned in a pair of the programs’ top individual performances in a long time.
Senior Matt Kuyken finished 11th overall, clocking a time of 16 minutes, 01 seconds, which coach John Elder said was the fastest time ever turned in by a Little Giant at the Tiffin Carnival.
“That’s one of the fastest times of any male cross country runner we’ve had in recent memory,” Elder said. “That was a really nice race. I was very impressed.”
On the girls side, Ross sophomore McKela Elder finished second in her event, finishing in a time of 20:02. Making her race all the more impressive is the fact Elder was feeling under the weather.
“She has a really bad head cold,” John Elder said. “I was wondering how she would do and she ran great. It obviously didn’t affect her.”
In the boys race, Ethan McClory ran a time of 16:52 and Keaton Jordan finished a minute later, at 17:55. Zach Edmonds clocked a time of 18:12, followed by Jayden Scott’s 18:30.
“Ethan, has been very, very consistent: Every race he’s been in the 16:40s, that’s pretty good for a sophomore,” Elder said. “Our No. 3 runner (Jordan), for the second week in a row ran in the 17s, and that’s one of this goals and I think the next few weeks hopefully he’ll get better.”
McKela Elder, girls cross country
Behind McKela Elder in the girls race, the Lady Giants are dealing with a few injuries while also getting freshmen runners experience.
Mara Brown ran a time of 22:52, followed by Lauren Zimmerman’s 23:23 and Bryanna Schermerhorn’s 23:40.
Sophomore Alexis Prenzlin ran a time of 24:12 despite battling injury.
“There is still some work to do,” Elder said. “Our normal No. 2 Lexi, has been bothered by some hip issues so she had a rough day but she’ll bounce back from that once she gets healthy again.”
Ross’s runners will be at it again on Tuesday when they a host Bellevue, Clyde and St. Joseph Central Catholic at Walsh Park at 5 p.m.