Reece earns top 10 finish to lead Wildcats

By Andy Brown
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Updated: September 23, 2015

Wyatt Reece leads a pack of runners around a turn and is followed closely by teammate Devyn Small during the Wellsville Invitational on Thursday. Reece finished 10th overall and earned a medal.

WELLSVILLE – The Louisburg High School cross country team has been showing improvements after every meet and the Wellsville Invitational was no exception.

Louisburg medaled three runners in the varsity races and earned two more junior varsity medals Thursday. All three varsity medalists continue to make strides for the Wildcats.

Sophomore Wyatt Reece had the best finish on the day as he finished 10^th overall in 19 minutes and 31 seconds. Reece had a strong final leg to crack a spot in the top 10.

“Wyatt ran a solid race,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “He is starting to get a feel for his race and pace during the meets. He made strong moves through the field during the second and third miles to get to 10th place. I expect to see even more gains as the next two meets play out.”

The Louisburg girls produced two medalists on their side. Sophomore Isabelle Holtzen finished 12^th in 23:55 and sophomore Savannah Reinhart was 19^th with a time of 24:37.

Louisburg had three more runners that finished in the top 30. Junior Madelynn Yalowitz made her way back from injury to move up from junior varsity and join her varsity teammates. Yalowitz finished 26^th in 25:21.

Junior Liz Hildreth ran a time of 25:28 to cross the finish line shortly behind Yalowitz in 27^th. Junior Kaitlyn Gaza was 30^th in 25:45.

Senior Abby Bergman (26:03) and sophomore Lexie Reece (29:50) rounded out the varsity lineup in 34^th and 49^th, respectively. As a team, the Lady Cats finished fifth with 104 points. Eudora won the team title with 34 points and Spring Hill finished second with 50.

“The girls continue to impress me with their effort,” coach Reece said. “I will again have a slight shuffle of runners for my top seven because of their inner-squad competition. Isabelle ran a great race at Wellsville. Like Wyatt, they are both young runners who are starting to figure it out.

“Savannah was doing well but stepped funny and dropped off a little. Once she came back around to me she started to find her stride again and finished strong. Madelynn is making great strides in coming back for her injury. She is running better and better each day both in meets and practice.”

Senior Abby Bergman stays in front of a pack of runners Thursday in Wellsville.

Senior Devyn Small came in second on the team to help lead the Wildcat squad. Small ran a 21:22 to finish 33^rd overall and junior Austin Raetzel finished 37^th in 21:39.

Senior Eddie Murphy (21:42), sophomore Jarod Rose (21:54) and senior Spencer Rogers (25:35) crossed the finish in 39^th, 44^th and 58^th, respectively.

The Wildcats took seventh in the team standings with 155 points. Eudora won the team title with 39 points and West Franklin was second with 71 points.

“The boys continue to work hard and I’m starting to see their team come together,” coach Reece said. “The next two meets will allow us to see different competition and to continue to work as a team to improve our standings in a race.”

Two junior varsity girls also earned medals for their top 10 finishes.

Freshman Alex Miller led the Lady Cats in ninth with a time of 28:22. Sophomore Lilly Mick came in 10^th in 28:30 to also grab a medal.

Bryn O’Meara (20^th), Mara Justesen (21^st), Lily Cook (22^nd), Alexa Goodspeed (23^rd), Hailey Crowder (24^th), Cierra Rose (26^th), Ryan Caldwell (29^th) and Grace Rolofson (37^th) also competed for Louisburg.

Freshman Bryce Kuhlman led Louisburg’s junior varsity boys in 17^th with a time of 23:37 and senior Michael Shaner was next in 27^th and ran a 24:48.

Kennedy Unthank (35th) and Gareth Baus (40^th) rounded out the Wildcat lineup.