By Fred Kroner
fred@mahometnews.com
The youthful Blue Devils – with four freshmen among the top six runners – finished 14th out of the 19 schools which entered complete teams in the Chrisman Cowchip Classic on Saturday (Sept. 5).
“They looked stronger this week, and I see bright futures ahead,” coach Jim Kestner said.
Freshman Zach Ruwe won his flight – “by a large margin” Kestner said – and ended in 19th place overall. Ruwe’s 3-mile time was 18 minutes and 12 seconds.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how his time improves when he has others pushing him in the race,” Kestner said.
Other competitors for VG/Heritage were Rowan Denmark-Collins (66th in 19:50); Daniel Olson (77th in 20:10); Aidan Ashbrook (91st in 21:09); Lukas Carey (114th in 22:30) and Austin Zoch (131st in 27:32).
Freshmen in the team’s lineup are Ruwe, Ashbrook, Carey and Zoch.
Denmark-Collins cut 2:20 off the time he registered in his opening meet of the season.
“Rowan is bouncing back after his first race and took a big step toward returning to last year’s form,” Kestner said.
Olson, the lone senior among the top six runners, set a career personal-best for the second time in as many weeks.
Ashbrook trimmed 54 seconds off of his previous best while Carey made his high school debut on Saturday.
The Blue Devils return to action on Saturday (Sept. 12) at Paxton-Buckley-Loda.
