Harriers finish 10th at local meet

The Mountain Home Tigers came in 10th out of 12 teams competing in the boys competition of the Mountain Home Invitational cross country meet at Desert Canyon Golf Course in Mountain Home last Friday.

Centennial won the boys competition. Mountain Home finished 10th with 321 points. Middleton was ninth with 304, right behind Kuna's 303. Caldwell was seventh with 287.

Tiger cross country coach James Gilbert, in reviewing his team's finish, thought his team would have placed higher had his number one runner been at 100 percent.

"Alvaro Salas didn't have that great of a race, but he wasn't feeling that well, so ended up 76th, which is a good 30 points or so off where we should have been. Take that into consideration, and we could have been fighting Caldwell for seventh."

Brandon Sloan was Mountain Home's first runner across the finish line, coming in 41st. Tim Whitmarsh ran a personal best 19:13, to finish 56. Daniel Kaiser had a personal best 19:31 for 70th. Alvaro Salas came in 76th, two ahead of Lee Pierce, who had another personal best time of 19:48.

In the girls competition, Cathy Gilbert was Mountain Home's only runner, she finished 85th.

This Friday is the District III 4A Cross Country Meet at Eagle Island State Park, where Coach Gilbert hopes for some good efforts from his squad.

"Seeing what a difference Alvaro's place meant to this race, I think the kids will step it up more, and we could have a chance at the number three spot."

The top three teams at district advance to the State Cross Country meet. The top third of the runners also qualify.