On Monday, September 11, Wagner held their local Cross Country Meet. It was a beautiful day for this meet. It was even more beautiful with all of our Cross Country members' parents/guardians in attendance. It was an afternoon to cheer on all the cross country members and to recognize their parents. The Senior Cross Country Members were also specifically given recognition- as this is their last year participating in Cross Country. Senior members of this year’s Cross Country Team include Jennifer Barnett, Jason Weston, Owen Bekanich, Caleb Zephier and Vincent Bechen. Most of these runners have been in Cross Country since the 6/7 grade. It is a pleasure to have such a great group of Senior Student Athletes to guide the younger runners on our team.

The runners came prepared for this race, and race, they did. The race started with the Middle Schoolers. Wagner had four young men representing them. This race was a 2.5K. Crossing the finish line first was Cooper Slaba taking first place coming in with a time of 11:17, close behind him was Alex Reiter coming in 4th with a time of 11:53. Sean Roberts came in 15th place with a time of 15:48, closely followed by his brother, Wyatt Roberts in 16th place with a time of 16:00.

The next race was the JV race. This was a 2.7K course. Representing the girls in JV was Taya Stone. She came in 3rd for the women with a time of 21:16. The boys to run in JV for Wagner were Grady Bartunek coming in 4th place with a time of 19:43, followed by Owen Bekanich in 5th place with a time of 19:50. Crossing the finish line in 7th place was Charlie Kocer with at ime of 19:56, and coming in 9th was Jason Weston at a time of 20:08.

In the Girl’s Varsity Race, the runners found that this course added up to me a bit longer than their regular 5k (which is 3.1 miles), this course was 3.4 miles. So, when looking at the times in comparison to the rest of the season so far, the times are not comparable, unless taken by minutes per mile. The female runners for the Varsity were Lydia Yost and Presley Slaba. The course was one loop around the golf course and then repeating that same loop. Presley Slaba came in 4th place with a time of 26:24, followed by Lydia Yost in 9th place with a time of 28:21.

The final race of the day was the Boy’s Varsity Race. Wagner had three young men represented who were Caleb Zephier, Jackson Rolston, and Vincent Bechen. The boy’s ran strong and all three of them came in within the top 10. Gregory also had three young men come in within the top 10. This just picked off Wagner for the Men’s team plaque as Gregory had one racer come in before one of our Wagner runners. It was a tight race, and we are proud of the Wagner runners. The results of the boy’s varsity race were Caleb Zephier coming in 4th with a 22:27 finish, Vincent Bechen in 8th with a 23:15 finish, and Jackson Rolston in 10th with a 23:47 finish. Keep in mind, this was a 3.7 mile course, so the times for previous 5k races are not comparable for any of these runners, unless taken by minutes/mile. The Boys ran hard and we couldn’t be more proud of them.

Overall, Wagner is happy with all of the runners and the races they completed. It has been a great season so far and we look forward to our next meet on Thursday, September 14th in Chamberlain.