Smith, Moore lead LHS cross country at Ottawa

By Andy Brown
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Updated: September 13, 2016

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg junior Tim Smith passes Spring Hill’s Trey Mathis to win the Ottawa triangular Thursday at the Eisenhower Road Course in Ottawa. Freshman Trinity Moore led the girls team as she finished second overall.

OTTAWA – The steep hills at the Eisenhower Road Course in Ottawa provided the toughest test of the season thus far for the Louisburg High School cross country team.

For some of the Wildcat runners, they took those hills head on Thursday and came away with some impressive performances from a few first-year runners. In a triangular with Ottawa and Spring Hill, Louisburg found itself in the front of the pack in both races.

Louisburg’s Tim Smith surpassed Spring Hill’s Trey Mathis in the final stretch as he won the boys’ side in 19 minutes and 13 seconds. Smith’s teammate, junior Wyatt Reece, also ran toward the front for most of the race and took fourth in 19:54.

Smith competed in his first-ever cross country race and it was a certainly a memorable one for the Wildcat junior.

“Tim ran a great race on Thursday,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “He, Wyatt and a Spring Hill runner set the tone for the race and Tim had it on the last hill to pull into the lead and stay there.”

The Louisburg girls also had a big day as they finished with nine medals and got a good performance from a first-year runner of their own. Freshman Trinity Moore had her second-straight top 10 performance as she took second place in 23:26.

Moore’s teammate, junior Isabelle Holtzen, was next to cross the finish line in 24:50 as she came in sixth. Senior Madelynn Yalowitz (25:12) and sophomore Kaitlyn Lewer (26:20) took eighth and 10^th, respectively.

The top 20 runners in each race earned medals.

“The girls team continues to impress Coach A (Arianne Seidl) and I,” coach Reece said. “Team scores were not kept but the girls won the meet by three points. The girls continue to work hard together both in practice and meets. Our number six through 10 runners on the squad continue to improve and are making the inner-squad competition fierce. This is going to be a fun season.”

Louisburg’s girls squad wasn’t done earning hardware as six more runners garnered medals.

Sophomore Shaylor Whitham finished 12^th overall in 26:40 and junior Reilly Alexander came in 15^th in 27:31. Freshman Natalie George (28:51), freshman Emily Williams (29:06), senior Mara Justesen (29:08) and junior Lilly Mick (29:16) came in 16^th, 17^th, 18^th and 20^th, respectively.

Seniors Lily Cook (21^st), Kaitlyn Gaza (23^rd), Bryn O’Meara (24^th), junior Tomi Frederes (26^th), freshman Elizabeth Kratochvil (27^th), sophomore Alex Miller (28^th), senior Hailey Crowder (29^th) and sophomore Weeraya Khongpatimakorn (30^th) also competed for the Wildcats.

Louisburg freshman Trinity Moore leads a pack of runners up a hill Thursday in Ottawa.

Freshman Evan Murphy (25:47) and sophomore Gareth Baus (26:29) finished just out of medal contention as they took 23^rd and 24^th, respectively. Sophomore Bryce Kuhlman (26^th), freshman Garrett Rolofson, junior Garrett Mills (28^th), sophomore Jackson Staab (29^th), freshman Keith Estle (30^th) and junior Parker Perentis (31^st) also ran for Louisburg.

The Wildcats return to action Thursday when they compete at the Wellsville Invitational. The meet is set to begin at 4 p.m.