Warriors fare well at Council Grove
Sports reporter
Danielle Cope and Daniel Goentzel once again led the Marion High School cross country team Thursday at the Council Grove meet. A week after running at familiar Marion County Lake, the Warriors took to the road once again and returned with three varsity medals.
Cope claimed her third straight top-10 medal, finishing ninth with a two-mile time of 13:25.
"I though Danielle did great," head coach Rex Ostmeyer said. "She ran very strong."
Goentzel finished in the top-10 for the third straight week as well, taking eighth with a 3.1-mile time of 17:56.
Luke Bowers was the Warriors' other medalist, finishing in 18:27, good enough for 15th place. Goentzel, who has finished ahead of Bowers every race this year except at Marion, reclaimed the Warrior top-spot again.
"Daniel kept his pace the entire race," Ostmeyer said. "Sometimes it just depends on how well you feel that particular day."
Justin Heidebrecht, who just missed out on medal with a time of 19:25, and Matt Kirkpatrick recorded a personal record with a time of 20:26. The final boys' team runner, Kerim Geldumuradov, finished 34th in the junior varsity race with a time of 24:42.
Tacy Taylor finished second for MHS behind Cope with a 26th-place finish with a time of 14:25. Like usual, Katie Hett was right behind Taylor, finishing in 14:28 and taking 29th-place.
Emily Svoboda (17:02) and Elisa Gayle (17:52) were the final finishers for the Warriors.
Even though times were slower than the week before, Ostmeyer thought his team did well.
"It's hard to determine because of the competition at each race," he said. "I think our kids ran every bit as well as they did last week."
The Warriors will travel Thursday to Chapman for the final regular season race before Oct. 13 when they play host to the Mid-Central Activities Association League meet. Senior Gavin Moore will join the team for the meet.
"I'm looking forward to the post-season," Ostmeyer said.
Thursday's race starts at 4 p.m.
