Ladies finish with strong times at large Park City Invitational

It was some stiff competition last week for the Green River High School cross country team.

The Wolves made the quick trip to compete at the Park City Invitational against some of the better teams from across Utah. It was a huge meet numbers-wise with a total of 221 runners in the boys varsity race and 194 in the girls varsity race.

Head Coach Steve Boyd said it was a good day and a good meet for the team and following the race, the kids were happy with where they finished.

He said while the course was a little short of a 5K, it still had a lot of challenges, including a hill during the first mile.

The Lady Wolves proved they will be a force to reckon with in Wyoming as they were able to finish 13 out of 28 teams, with many of those above them being much larger Utah schools.

Josie Givens was the leading individual finisher for Green River. The junior standout ended up in sixth place with a time of 18:43. On the boy’s side, senior Austin Waters led the way with an 87th-place finish out of 221 runners and a time of 17:37.

Nicole Davis finished in 56th with a time of 20:28, freshman Cassie Newcomb was 83rd out of 194 with a time of 21:00, sophomore Sarah Joyner with a time of 21:07 and Cheyenne McMichael ended up in 106th place with a time of 21:28.

Boyd said it was a breakthrough meet for Davis.

“She’s starting to look like herself,” he said about last year’s all-conference runner.

Boyd added that McMichael improved a minute from her time at the same meet last season and said that shows just how far she’s come.

He said Kaleigh Allison set a personal best in the girls junior varsity race. On the boys side, Shawn McGuire was 90th with a time of 17:39, Braden Reichl was 10th with a time of 17:49, Brayden Kovick was 113th with a final time of 17:51 and Jaryn Johnson finished 130th with a time of 18:03.

Boyd said freshman Greg Vanderpool had a good race in the junior varsity event.

This week Green River will travel to compete at the Rock Springs Invitational at White Mountain Golf Course. He said the team is starting to put things together, but there is still room for improvement.