The Prairie Cross Country team competed at a pair of meets this past week. On Tuesday, Oct. 6, they hosted a meet at Cottonwood and celebrated Senior Night. On Saturday, Oct. 10, they competed at the Inland Empire Meet at Lewiston.
Prior to the varsity runs, Prairie celebrated seniors Evelyn Gehring, Lillianne Lustig, Ella McLeod and Gabe DeCaria.
Gehring celebrated senior night by coming from behind to win the girls’ high school race at the finish line.  She had a time of 23:14.3. Madalynn VonBargen placed 4th in 26:21.0 and Gloria Terhaar outraced Zita Schmidt to the finish line to take 5th in 27:20.2. The top 5 finishers received medals. Schmidt’s time was 27:20.5. McLeod was 9th in 28:50.0 while Lustig was 10th in 29:14.0. Bella Musick was 14th in 35:38.0. The girls won the team title as the only full team competing.
Koyle Jones was the top finisher for the boys team as he placed 7th in 19:36.0. Matthew Jones was 10th in 20:39.0. Kade Hansen was 19th in 21:43.0. DeCaria was 26th in 24:02.0 and Aiden DeLorenze was 31st in 26:13.0. As a team the boys place 4th with 71 points.
In the junior high girls race Darby Fitch finished 13th in 17:02.0.
In the junior high boys race Cameron McLeod placed 4th in 10:16.0. Dawson Stewart was 5th in 10:41.0. David Quintal was 9th in 10:52.0. Sawyer Stewart was 16th in 12:27.1. Landon Jones was 17th in 12:27.8. Eli Duman was 18th in 12:29.0. James Lustig was 22nd in 13:14.0 and Moses Musick was 25th in 14:50.0. As a team the boys placed 2nd behind Lincoln Middle School of Clarkston with 30 points.
At the Inland Empire Challenge the Prairie High School runners competed in the junior varsity races due to the competition.
Gehring was the top finisher as she placed third in 21:49.0. Schmidt beat out Terhaar at the finish this time although both had identical times of 25:12.0. Schmidt was 23rd and Terhaar 24th. Lustig placed 29th in 28:02.0 and Musick was 53rd in 32.44.0. The team placed 5th with 95 points.
Koyle Jones was the boys top finisher with an 18th place in 19:03.0. Matthew Jones was 23rd in 19:29.0. Hansen was 46th in 20:42.0. DeCaria was 70th in 22:28.0 and DeLorenze was 80th in 24:05.0. As a team the boys placed 10th with 196 points.
In their final race of the year the junior high boys placed 2nd behind Lewiston with 47 points.
McLeod was the top finisher as he placed 3rd in 9:14.0 over the 2500 meter course. Most junior high races are 3000 meters. Dawson Stewart was 4th in 9:20.0. Quintal was 16th in 10:02.0. Landon Jones was 17th in 10:03.0 Sawyer Stewart was 19th in 10:20.0. Duman was 21st in 10:31.0. Lustig was 39th in 11:56.0. Ezekial Henry was 40th in 11:58.0 and Musick was 48th in 13:12.0.
The team’s final high school meet is Wednesday, October 14 at Genesee with the girls race set to start at 4 p.m. followed by the boys race at about 5 p.m.
The District meet is set for next Wednesday, October 21 at Lewiston Orchards. The girls race starts at 3:45 p.m. and the boys race at 4:30 p.m.