Cougar runners head north to Cheyenne

Hundreds of runners and their fans were out in force Saturday, Sept. 2, for the 2023 Wyoming Cross Country Invitational at the Little America Resort Golf Course in Cheyenne.

Collegiate men’s and women’s teams as well as high school varsity and junior varsity boys’ and girls’ teams from across Wyoming and Colorado were represented at the spectacle. The collegiate host, the University of Wyoming Cowboys, edged out rival Colorado State to win the men’s event. The CSU women, ranked 26th in the nation, returned the favor by winning their race over second-placed Wyoming.

Resurrection Christian High School hosted the high school entrants. Boulder High School’s varsity girls outraced Fossil Ridge High School for the win, while Cheyenne Central High School ran away with the boys varsity honors.

With the bulk of its top runners sitting out the event in preparation for Wednesday’s RE-1J District Meet, the Niwot Cougars showed very respectably with seventh-place team finishes in both the boys’ and girls’ varsity races from among the 23 high schools represented in each race.

The meet gave an opportunity for the Cougar runners to get their first competition of the season at 5000 meters. Sarah Perkins paced the girls with an 11th-place finish. The senior was just 11 seconds behind the winner, senior Kiki Vaughn of Boulder High. Other top finishers for the Cougars in the field of 198 runners were junior Maelie Vanpe (41st), seniors Viola Alessandrini (44th) and Lucy Thompson (72nd), and junior Magnolia Valentine (76th).

Two hundred and twelve runners competed in the boys’ varsity race with junior Keegan Geldean pacing the Cougars with an 18th-place finish. Right behind in 19th place was Niwot sophomore Gabriel Marshall. Senior Aidan Jiang finished 29th while sophomore Duncan Atherton ended the race 53rd overall. A pack of Cougars composed of sophomore Nate Thompson, freshman Garrett Sherrard, junior Will Becker, and sophomore Sean Williams crossed the finish line in sequence taking places 57 through 60.

Wednesday’s RE-1J District Meet will be hosted at Niwot High School. The varsity girls’ race is scheduled to start at 5:45 p.m. with the boys’ varsity to follow at 6:15 p.m. The awards ceremony will be held at 6:45 p.m.