Runners face tough competition at Soda Springs meet

The Mountain Home Tigers cross country team found the competition extremely competitive at the Cardinal Classic cross country meet at Soda Springs Saturday.

With teams from three states and numerous 5A schools, Mountain Home's girls finished 13th and the boys 22nd.

Mountain View of Meridian ran away with the girls competition with 61 points. Bishop Kelly was second with 110 points, Highland of Pocatello was third with 136, Bingham, Utah, was fourth with 139, and Preston was fifth with 195. Twin Falls was sixth, with 203, followed by Hillcrest, 228, Jerome, 245, Star Valley, Wyo., 250, Rock Springs, Wyo., 260, Box Elder, Utah, 265, Idaho Falls, 306, Mountain Home, 317, Capital, 346, Madison, 372, Bear River, 391, Century, 411, Bonneville, 433, Skyline, 543 and Rigby, 557.

Jordan Vivier paced the Mountain Home girls, finishing 35th with a time of 22:36.66.

Meanwhile, Kacee Cameron finished 40th with a time of 22:41.24. Haley Schaefer came in 71st (23:59.68), McKenzie Dorr came in 89th (24:57.44), Ashley Mayberry, 102nd (25:35.30) and Shelby Henrick, 107th (26:04.87).

Bingham, Utah, won the boys meet with 98 points. Mountain View was second with 127, Teton was third with 159, Box Elder, Utah, fourth with 172, Highland was fifth with 173, followed by Bear River, 182, Bishop Kelly, 216, Rock Springs, Wyo., 227, Capital, 243, Rigby, 251, Hillcrest, 256, Twin Falls, 275, Idaho Falls, 306, Skyline, 380, Star Valley, Wyo., 381, Preston, 381, Green River, Wyo., 419, Jerome, 433, Blackfoot, 469, Century, 497, Madison, 524, Mountain Home, 558 and Bonneville, 563.

Dylan Johnson led the Mountain Home boys with a time of 19:31.67, good for 40th place.

Jake Schaefer (21:33.46), Aaron Menhart (21:38.49), and Daniel Courtright (21:39.86) were bunched at 125 to 127, Steven Kreyche came in at 140 (22:59.27), and Alex Burke came in at 145 (24:10.41).

"It was a tough race," said Tiger cross country coach Doug Root. "The kids could have run better, but we haven't worked on any hills yet this year and we haven't done any speed work, yet. We'll come around. The girls will be there by the time we get to district I'm sure. The boys, we know that they have a lot of work to do and they know they have a lot of work to do. We've got real good attitudes, so I think we'll come a long way with the boys, too."

The Tigers will travel to Wood River for a meet Thursday, Sept. 9.