Contributing writer
The early morning rains cleared the air and kept the temperatures down, allowing some excellent times for the Hesston Swather Special Cross-Country Meet on Thursday.
Goessel’s cross-country team showed improvement from nearly every runner in the second meet of the season. At Hesston, each grade in school competes among athletes only from the same grade.
Heath Goertzen picked up a 10-place individual medal with a time of 18 minutes, 58.68 seconds in the senior boys’ group as teammate Ben Wiens finished with a time of 20:35.43. In the junior race, Nils Erdoesi improved his time by finishing in 22:41.28, and Dane Kruger ran in 23:59.91. Zach Wiens finished the sophomore race in 21:09.47 with Leighton Wagner coming in at 25:39.72.
For the girls, Sophie Frueler, an exchange student from Switzerland, picked up a 10-place individual medal for Goessel in the junior grade with a time of 17:34.59. Teammate Mayuko Kanda finished in 19:26.99. Jennifer Meysing, a freshman for the Bluebirds, finished 11th with a time of 18:27.99, and Riley Jarvis came in with a time of 19:54.30. Merle Weidenhammer ran a 23:05.59 in the sophomore division, and Kara Schmucker came in at 25:28.65 in the senior group.