Burlington harriers post personal best times in Powell

The Burlington Huskies harriers competed in Powell on Thursday.  It was the conference meet for the middle school and the final regular season meet for the high school.
Kellen Winters completed his undefeated season in the middle school boys’ division with a time of 11:32 in his two-mile race.
“I’m so proud of Kellen,” said coach Ryan Olson. “As a seventh grader, he decided early on in the season that he wanted to push himself every practice with the high school varsity boys. He knew every week that he would be the focus of all the best runners in the area, but he stayed focused and finished an outstanding season. He’s already asked if he can continue to practice with the high school. It will be fun to see how far that type of dedication will take Kellen these next few years.
“Kellen led a middle school team that saw personal bests with almost all of his teammates. Sisters Kelli McNiven and Natalie McNiven finished a great girls’ season with wonderful results. Jaxon Buck, Jack Olson, Hyrum McNiven and Spencer Hamilton all left Powell with smiles in a great conclusion to their season.”
At the high school level, the Huskies again saw more personal bests with Howard McNiven running under 17 minutes for the first time this year. “He’s had his eye on that time for two years. It was great to see him finally reach that goal. Paul McNiven and Connor Hoyt continue to have some of the top times in the state and our fourth scorer at state will probably stay a mystery for a couple more weeks. Levi Wardell ran his best race of the year, finishing at 19:27. But James Bassett, James McNiven and Bruce McNiven have all finished in that spot at different times of the season,” said Olson.
On the girls’ side, Jessie
Michaels had another top-10 finish and both Joey Chatwin and Linnie McNiven ran personal best times. “Cadence Schlenker gets the award for the most improved time on the day. Her 26:52 was almost three minutes better than last week. She knows how valuable she is to our girls’ team,” said Olson.
This week the Huskies will have their conference meet in Ethete on Friday with races starting at 4 p.m.

POWELL RESULTS
VARSITY BOYS — 5, Howard McNiven, 16:52.86; 20, Paul McNiven, 17:38.82; 23, Connor Hoyt, 17:49.87; 42, James McNiven, 19:24.37; 43, Levi Wardell, 19:27.46; 53, Bruce McNiven, 20:01.74; 54, James Bassett, 20:02.76.
VARSITY GIRLS — 9, Jessie Michaels, 20:22.34; 22, Linnie McNiven, 21:45.53; 34, Joey Chatwin, 23:47.82.
JV BOYS — 26, Nick Olmstead, 20:56.74; 27, Colt Haslam, 20:58.87; 52, Greg McNiven, 23:26.08; 57, Oliver Nordberg, 23:49.45; 64, Brian O’Barr, 28:08.15.
JV GIRLS — 20, Cadence Schlenker, 26:52.36.
MS BOYS — 1, Kellen Winters, 11: 32.52; 40, Hyrum McNiven, 14:01.85; 59, Jaxon Buck, 14:57; 65, Spencer Hamilton, 15:15.46; 117, Jackson Olson, 21:06.34.
MS GIRLS — 17, Kelli McNiven, 14:12.34; 83, Natalie McNiven, 17:27.75.