Lovell harriers run strong times despite the heat

Four meets down, four to go. The Lovell High School cross country team reached the midpoint of the 2024 season at the Worland Invitational Thursday and turned in some strong times, despite running in hot weather.

Coach Caleb Sanders said all competitors in the girls and boys races ran together, though coaches could designate runners as junior varsity or varsity.

“The course (at the Green Hills Golf Course) is beautiful. It’s always one of the nicest courses we run on,” Sanders said. “It was 89 (degrees), so I was worried it would be tough to get fast times.”

The hot temperature did seem to affect some runners, but others excelled as they continue to get in mid-season shape.

For the Lovell girls, junior Elana Schilthuis continued her surge as she placed second in the junior varsity girls division in a time of 22:30, beating her previous personal record by more than two minutes to earn female runner of the week honors.

“Elana went from 24:50 (at Big Horn) to 22:30,” Sanders noted. “We saw this coming in practice but not to that extent. She races really good. She’s patient at the start and then starts passing people. She probably passed 30 people after the first couple minutes of the race. That’s a really good time. We haven’t had a 22-minute runner for a couple of years now. That’s an all-state time in 2A, though 3A has a much deeper field.

Also strong Thursday was freshman Caylee Herman, who ran a season-best time of 23:45 to place ninth in the JV division.

“She runs a similar race (like Schilthuis),” Sanders said. “She starts patient and moves up throughout the race. I know she wants to break 23 minutes, and I anticipate it will happen in the next two weeks. She’s also running really good in practice.

“It was so hot in Worland. I anticipate some fast times in the next couple of meets.”

Also in the JV girls race, senior Danika Crumrine placed 22nd in a time of 27:18, carving more than a minute off of her season best, and sophomore Candace Walker finished 27th in 28:36, her best time of the season by nearly two minutes. Junior Atlee Sanders ran her best time of the year, 31:04 (36th place), and freshman Juliette Caldwell ran 31:19 (38th).

Boys results

For the Lovell boys, coaches named junior Damian Wagner as the male runner of the week for his performance in Worland. Wagner placed 52nd at 21:35 in the boys varsity race and sheared a minute and a half off his previous best time run at the Billings meet. 

“(The time of) 23:07 was his PR, and he gets 21:35,” Sanders said. “We’ve been seeing that in practice, as well. He and Elana are two of our most intentional runners. They apply what they learn in practice and are always thinking (how to apply it) in practice as well as in a race.”

Senior Dino DeLaCruz ran a season-best time, finishing 48th in the varsity race in a time of 20:56, and senior Thane Zollman carved a minute and a half off his time on the same course a year ago, placing 29th in the JV division in 23:07, his best time of the year.

“Thane is running faster with each race this season,” Sanders noted.

Junior Jacob Thomas ran for the first time this season after coming over from the golf team and placed second in the junior varsity division in a time of 19:45.

“He didn’t run as fast as last year (19:15), but he’ll certainly have the opportunity to run fast in Cody (this week),” Sanders said.

The top time for the Bulldogs in Worland was run by junior David Durfee, who placed 25th in the varsity race in a time of 18:40, just four seconds off his season best.

“We’re really happy with David. He’s never been this consistent before,” Sanders said. “He deserves credit because he’s consistently one of the best runners. He’s always running good races and is having a great season. This is the third time he’s run in the 18s this season.”

In other boys results, junior Hugh Carpenter ran 23:01 in the junior varsity division to finish 27th, freshman Gage Pillow ran a season best time of 28:12 in the JV race, senior Stetson Asay finished 44th in the varsity race at 20:27, sophomore Sam Mayes ran 21:10 in the varsity race (50th), junior Jay Mayes 54th at 22:06 (season best) and junior Jaxen Clark 56th in 22:19 (PR).

Cody meet

The Bulldogs will travel to Cody today (Thursday) for the annual Fox and Hound meet, a format in which the slowest runners start first and are “chased” down by the faster runners. Sander said in each race the junior varsity runners start first, then coaches start their seventh, sixth, fifth, fourth, third, second and first runners every 20 seconds.

“We’re looking at 68 degrees (for a temperature), so that’ll be great unless there’s a big wind,” Sanders said.

The meet at the Olive Glenn Golf Course begins at 3:15 p.m. for the girls race and 3:55 for the boys.