Furst contines to lead pack for Tiger harriers

Jessica Furst continued to perform well, placing seventh in a Gooding meet last week, and fifth in the Mountain Home Invitational last Thursday.

Mountain Home finished last out of 12 teams in the girls race at Gooding, which was won by Twin Falls. Jessica Furst's time of 20:29 placed her seventh overall, out of 105 runners. Jessi Cameron was the second Mountain Home runners to finish, her time of 24:27 placed her at 58.

Jennica Quintal came in at 81 with her 26:26, Kelci Robinson came in four back of Jennica, with a 27:09 time. Cindy Blacklock ran a 29:02, right ahead of Courtney Ashford's 29:03, and Sarah Hyde ran a 32:57.

Mountain Home also finished last in the boys competition, which was won by Burley.

Matt Bernyk ran a new PR with a 19:27, which placed him 56, three ahead of Charlie Blacklock's 19:36, which was also a new PR for him. Nico Pinque also ran a new PR of 21:08, good for 72, one ahead of Garrett Wood, who also had a new PR with his 21:14.

Brett Kohring was one back of Wood with his 21:22, and Mason Stevens also ran a new PR with his 24:32.

"The times at Gooding were very, very good," said Tiger cross country coach Doug Root. "Everybody ran a PR by 20 or 30 seconds, so I was very, very pleased with the performances at Gooding. It was a fairly flat course and the kids ran it very well."

The Mountain Home girls finished fifth out of six full teams running in the Mountain Home Invitational ran at Desert Canyon Golf Course last Thursday. Mountain View ran away with the field to win the meet.

Jessica Furst again led Mountain Home, finishing fifth out of 47 runners with a time of 21:23. Jessi Cameron ran a 25:09, good for 32, four spots ahead of Jennica Quintal, whose time of 26:23 was a new PR. Kelci Robinson came in at number 40 with a 27:33. Courtney Ashford ran a 30:20, Piper Coffin ran a 30:35, and Cindy Blacklock ran a 32:55.

"Jessica's my number one runner right now," said Coach Root.

"She has, I think, an outstanding chance of qualifying for state."

The Tiger boys came in last out of nine teams running in the boys competition of the Mountain Home Invitational. Mountain View ran away with the meet, finishing with 27 points.

Matt Bernyk led the Mountain Home runners in the Mountain Home meet, running a 20:13, good for 40th, three ahead of Charlie Blacklock, who ran 20:19. Nico Pinque came in at 21:45 (51), Garret Wood ran a 51:58 (52), Brett Kohring came in at 22:27 (56) and Mason Stevens ran a 23:46 (60).

"It was a beautiful day -- a great day for a race" said Coach Root. "The kids ran very, very well. A special thanks goes out to the golf course (Desert Canyon) for letting us host the meet here, and hosting next week, too. I just can't say enough about the cooperation of the people at the golf course."

The Tigers will host the District III 4A cross country meet tomorrow (Thursday) at Desert Canyon Golf Course.