West Grand hosted its first Cross Country meet on Saturday, September 22.
The course included 3 miles of up and down terrain along the Troublesome.
Pictured are West Grand's #165 Danielle DeMattos, #172 Samantha
Westfahl, and #176 Joy Hast.
by Ryan Trippichio Cross Country Head Coach
Between all the craziness of back burn smoke rushing in to town on Friday afternoon, looking over my shoulder for a bear in the trees, and all of the other usual craziness that comes from hosting a home cross country meet, the Mustang Cross Country team did an amazing job over the weekend in Doc Ceriani Park and at Rossi Meadow on Tuesday. On a clear and bright Saturday morning the Mustangs raced over a 3 mile course that started and finished in Doc Ceriani and ran over by Red Mountain trails. The Mustangs took 3rd in both the High School races and 6th and 5th in the Middle School race, girls and boys respectively. With adjustments to the 5k distance, we had 6 new personal records for the season with senior Jimmy Uren running a 22:38; juniors Jessica Gregory in 31:47 and Jose Rosas in 22:07; Sophomores Tylor Ususan in 24:44, Joy Hast in 25:20, and Samantha Westfahl in 25:19; and freshman Allura Luna debuting her season after some horrible shin splints with a 30:21.
The Mustangs then had a quick turn around before competing at the Soroco Invite on Tuesday as Rossi Meadow. The course, located across the street from Soroco High School, saw the Middle School and High School race across the 2.2 mile and 5km courses respectively. Here with, hills taken out of the equation for the most part, the Mustangs ran 6 career personal records (Joy in 23:59, sophomore Dani Demattos in 25:39, Allura in 29 flat, Samantha in 24:01, Tylor in 23:25, and Freshman Galen Wilkinson in 24:40) and 2 season personal records (Jessica in 28:45, and senior Mat Bensing in 25:08). As you can see, with this much growth from one meet to the next so very quickly, the Mustangs are poised for a breakout and at just the right time: the state qualifying regional meet in Delta is 3 weeks away.
There is no way that I can name everyone that helped to make our first annual West Grand Invite a success but I will try. I first want to say thank you athletic director Cori Kassib for her help in working the meet; without you I’d still be working on the scoring. Kristin Rath, for taking care of my coaching responsibilities, making sure our kids were ready to go. To the wonderful Joe Shields and Cheryl Brown for officiating the meet and keeping things running smooth. To the wonderful staff of West Grand High School that came out and helped and/or supported the meet. The Gregorys, Westfahls, Hasts, Belchers, and the Lunas for helping course marshal around the entire 3 mile and middle school courses. To the Grand Gazette for publicizing the meet and taking pictures. To the Town of Kremmling and the Kremmling Police Department for all of their help in keeping Jackson Avenue safe for the race. And to everyone that in any way, shape, or form have supported and encouraged the West Grand Cross Country Program this and any other season, thank you so much! Your support means more than words can possibly say.
