Three Huskies finish top ten in Riverton

Burlington’s middle and high school cross country teams competed in Riverton last week at the Berry Bryant/Kyle Johnson Memorial Meet. 

“Our kids do a nice job, getting out on the course and cheering for each other,” said Coach Ryan Olson. “The weather was perfect for the middle school races in the morning. Kellen Winters continues to impress this season, winning this race by over a minute. Having the sixth grade start five minutes early, meant that Kellen needed to navigate around runners for the first time this year, but he did a nice job, finishing with one of his better mile times this year.” 

“Our girls also ran hard. Kelli McNiven finished in the top three, which is a spot she can be proud of, especially with a lot of the bigger schools attending the meet. I was also proud of Sydney Jacobson. She’s working on her pacing lately, being careful not to start too fast. She ended the race at a nice pace, which shows she was paying attention to conserving energy throughout the race.” 

The wind picked up right before the varsity races, but Olson thought his team managed well. “It’s good to have some variety in weather conditions throughout the year, because it prepares us better for our region and state meets.” 

Once again, the Huskies had three runners place in the top 10. “Our boys ran hard, knowing that a lot of our 2A competition was running as well. Howard McNiven led this week. It’s so fun to have these boys push each other every day in practice and meets, without knowing who will place first between them. It keeps them all hungry and brings out their best. 

“Our Riverside runners, Ben Mendenhall and Nick Olmstead, also ran their personal bests. We’ll be slowly moving them into the varsity races these next couple of weeks. We’ll be counting on them for team points when we head to the region and state meets next month,” ended Olson. 

The BHS and BMS runners will be competing together again on Thursday in Lander. Middle school races will start at 11 a.m. with high school races to follow. 

BERRY BRYANT/KYLE JOHNSON MEMORIAL RESULTS

VARSITY BOYS – 3, Howard McNiven, 17:51.23; 4, Connor Hoyt, 17:53.18; 5, Paul McNiven, 17:56.60; 19, James McNiven, 19:40.55; 34, Colt Haslam, 22:22.14.

JV BOYS – 20, Ben Mendenhall, 23:04.15; 28, Nick Olmstead, 24:07.96; 31, Brian O’Barr, 25:08.75; 33, Greg McNiven, 25:29.43; 37, Jackson Olson, 37:07.07.

JV GIRLS – 17, Raygen Andrew, 35:52.08. 

MS BOYS – 1, Kellen Winters, 8:17.83; 19, Hyrum McNiven, 10:13.62; 27, Jaxon Buck, 10:29.40; 50, Ariel Cordova, 11:19.96; 64, Spencer Hamilton, 11:48.13.

MS GIRLS – 3, Kelli McNiven, 10:04.97; 41, Natalie McNiven, 12:33.32; 96, Sydney Jacobson, 16:52.57.