Centre cross country headed to state meet
Garrard is regional champ
A team of five girls from Centre High School finished third at the regional cross country meet Saturday afternoon at Lake Afton to qualify for the state meet Saturday at Wamego.
Junior Dani Hatfield earned a seventh place medal in the girls' two-mile race with a time of 14:05. Younger members of the team are Kelsey Hatfield, Brittany Owens, Justine Jennings, and Allie Will.
Justin Garrard, a senior, dominated the 1A boys' race. He was well ahead of everyone else after the first half-mile and extended his lead as the race wore on. He finished the 5,000-meter race with a time of 17:31.
"I started running cross country because that is what my older brother Grant did in order to stay in shape for basketball," Justin said after the race.
"I missed going to state as a freshman by one place and have qualified for state every year since then," he added.
Because of his excellent finishes at many of the meets, even against larger schools, college coaches have become interested in his running abilities.
The girls will run at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Garrard will run at 12:30 p.m.
