Pierce High Cross Country
Bluejay Runners Bring Home Hardware
By Kendall Shada
The Bluejay runners headed over to O’Neil to run their way to victory at the O’Neil Invite on Friday, September 19, and ended up bringing team and individual awards.
To begin with, the girls, the Bluejays had two runners who competed. Isabelle Kuehler ended up finishing in 28th place, running a season best of 25:28.10. Lainey Jensen finished right behind Kuehler in 29th place, running a personal record of 26:03.90.
“The girls both ran very fine races as they ran their fastest times of the year, and Lainey ran her best time ever,” head coach Gary Shada states.
On the boys side of things, the Bluejay boys brought home the first place trophy as a team. Brenden Bolling won the race with a blazing time, also a personal record of 16:33.90. Just finishing behind him was Kendall Shada, running a season best of 17:12.50, ending up in third place. Just behind Shada was Kyle Abler with a new personal record of 17:31.90, finishing in sixth place.
“I think that we did very well as a team, and we all ran very hard. All of us had a very good race, and I ran my best time of the season. We all came together and competed, showing that we can face off against any team,” Maxwell Weber, a junior on the team, states.
Blaine Anson ran a new personal record of 18:28.10, coming in 21st place. Carl Vogt came in behind Anson, also running a new personal record of 19:40.70, finishing in 29th place. Weber finished 3rd in the junior varsity portion of the race, running a new season best of 20:22.40.
The Bluejay team had a great showing at the O’Neill invite and hope to keep things running as they compete on Thursday, September 25, in Yankton, South Dakota, at Fox Run Golf Course. Race time is at 4:15 p.m.
Pierce Runners Shine at Wayne Country Club Invite
By Zane McKeown
The Pierce cross country teams competed at the Wayne Country Club Invite, where several runners delivered strong performances on a challenging course.
On the girls’ side, Isabelle Kuehler led the way for Pierce, finishing 25th overall with a time of 26:50.41. She was followed by teammate Lainey Jensen, who placed 34th in 29:05.85. While the girls team did not place as a group, the runners showed determination throughout the race.
The boys’ team had a standout day, finishing second overall with a combined team time of 1:14:16.24. Leading the charge was Brenden Bolling, who raced to first place with an impressive time of 17:30.53. Right behind him, Kyle Abler placed sixth in 18:12.84, and Kendall Shada came in seventh with a time of 18:28.23.
“We had to come off a quick weekend, so I wasn’t sure how we were going to do as a team, but we ended up having a good turnout. We can still improve, but this was a good start,” Bolling said.
Other strong finishes for Pierce included Blaine Anson in 18th (20:04.64), Carl Vogt in 27th (21:12.64), and Maxwell Weber in 36th (22:26.31).
“The meet went alright; individually I didn’t perform well but as a team we got second which I was somewhat happy about. At O’Neill things will go a lot better,” Shada says.
With Bolling’s first-place finish and three runners inside the top 10, the boys proved they are a tough team to beat this season.
