By Fred Kroner
fred@mahometnews.com
Ninth-grader Zach Ruwe paced the Blue Devils in Saturday’s first race of the season, the Saber Corn Classic at St. Thomas More.
Ruwe covered the 3-mile course in 17 minutes, 39.3 seconds and ended 18th.
“A great start for a freshman in his first high school race,” VG/H head coach Jim Kestner said. “Zach finished fourth at junior high state last year and is on track to have a strong freshman season.”
He helped VG/H place 10th in the team standings with a score of 242. Meet champion Stanford Olympia had 35 points.
Other runners for the Blue Devils were Daniel Olson (52nd in 20:17.5), Ethan Meneley (55th in 20:34.6), Rowan Denmark-Collins (67th in 22:10.9), Aidan Ashbrook (69th in 22:13.3), Austin Zoch (82nd in 27:08.0) and Lukas Carey (86th in 37:14.9).
Olson, a senior, set a career personal-best with his time.
“With five our of seven (Ruwe, Meneley, Ashbrook, Zoch and Carey) running their first high school race as freshmen, we laid a good foundation on which to build for our 2020 competition season,” Kestner said. “We’ll see times drop rapidly as the season goes on.
“I was incredibly excited to get to see our athletes compete for the first time this year, and look forward to watching them grow.”
VG/H returns to action on Saturday (Sept. 5) in the Chrisman Cowchip Classic.
