Northern Wyoming News - Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years

WORLAND - As the cross-country season draws closer to the conference and state meets, the Worland High School cross-country team has been taking strong strides forward during that time.

Saturday in Thermopolis for the Bobcat Invitational, the Warriors and Lady Warriors swept the meet taking first place on the same course that will host the 3A East conference meet on Oct. 13.

"Overall, Thermop is a tougher course, so our focus wasn't so much on our times but our positioning and team standing. That for me was a successful weekend and as a coach, referencing to our pack time which is the distance between our first and fifth runner and trying to close that gap, I feel like we're doing a better job and making more progress with those pack times," said WHS cross-country Tanya Kienlen.

As a team, the Warriors scored 29 points and placed four runners in the top 10, Porter Harman (first, 17:51.67), Jadon Swalstad (third, 18:24.62), Nathaniel Nelson (fifth, 18:55.78) and Victor Olvera (ninth, 19:09.24). While two Lady Warriors finished in the top 10, Kellie Holiday (seventh, 23:23.11) and Paige Flock (10th 24:24.78) and scored 39 points.

"Obviously it was nice to walk away with four boys and two girls in the top 10, that's always going to be a decent weekend. Victor Olvera stepped it up to be our No. 4 scorer. I was proud of Paige and Brooke Flock coming out with a good start. Then Elisa (Ayungua), Hailey (Hunter), Lauren (Andersen) and Tatum (Zimmerman) did very well, I would say the girls did a strong job of running together and now we need the togetherness to move up. The team unity and inter-competition is still helping us," said Kienlen.

Friday Worland travels to Powell for the Powell Invitational which will be their final race of the regular season.

Powell is a flat, fast course and while Worland will train this week with Powell in mind, they will also be training for their return to Thermopolis next week. And having already run a race in Thermopolis, Kienlen can look at the numbers and determine the areas where her team can make up ground.

"Afterwards we analyzed the strength of our races and where we can improve when we return next week," said Kienlen. "We take it week by week, so obviously gearing up for Powell it's a quick course and will give us quick times. We'll have to push a few more repeats and have to come focused for a solid race. We'll still apply some hill workouts so that we're still prepared for conference," said Kienlen.

After this week, two weeks remain in the season and the Worland runners plan to make the most of what is left. And while the team will be on the road during homecoming week, Kienlen still wants her team to show the same amount of school pride as if they were running at home.

"There are no excuses at this point, we just have to suck it up. Along with our training we've talked about taking care of ourselves, we've encouraged nutrition and getting the right amount of sleep, all the extra parts that add up to the equation," said Kienlen. "This is our homecoming week and even though we're still competing out of town, we want to represent ourselves well and be proud as Warriors."

The Powell Invite will begin at 4 p.m. Also of note the Warrior and Lady Warrior senior runners will be honored during their senior night at 5 p.m. Thursday at Worland High School.