Last week, Kirtland’s cross country teams suffered through unusually hot and humid conditions at the Cardinal Invitational.
On Saturday, the Hornets once again were affected by the weather, but this time the cooler temperatures coupled with a fast course led the runners to set 18 new personal records.
“The course was nice and the weather was perfect for running,” said Kirtland coach JP Moran. “We had a really good meet with many PRs, both lifetime and season.”
Sophomore Lauren Snyder earned an award after finishing 18th overall with a time of 21:11, a season PR.
“I was satisfied with my run because I set my season PR from the great running conditions,” Snyder said. “Last week the conditions were warm, but it was great to come back this week with a good time.”
Sydney Snyder (21:33), Ellie David (23:29), Andrea Frankel (23:45), Holly Samf (24:08), and Ninah Johnson (24:36) all ran season PRs while Julie Namciu (22:03), Mateja Mrva (23:08) and Emily Crebs (23:31) all ran lifetime PRs.
Jordan Jontz (23:55) also ran for the Hornets, who finished seventh in the girls’ race.
Junior Konnor Duncan led the Kirtland boys to a 13th place finish with his time of 17:57, a new lifetime PR.
“I’m ecstatic about running in the 17s today,” Duncan said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do to without Jake Grdadolnik pushing me. I hope that more teamwork like that can manifest itself in the rest of our races and with some of our slower runners.”
Grdadolnik was close behind with a time of 18:09, another lifetime PR.
Nick Briggs (19:19), Ian McGreal (19:54), George Shuppe (20:23), Drew Schneider (20:25), Will Robertson (22:41) and Jeff Kusar (26:58) all ran lifetime PRs and Kirk Brauer (22:34) ran a season PR for the Hornets.
