Cross-country team runs well at home

The Mountain Home girls finished third and the boys came in fifth at last Thursday's Mountain Home Invitational Cross Country Meet at Desert Canyon Golf Course in Mountain Home.

Mountain Home finished third behind Mountain View and Twin Falls in the girls competition. Mountain View had 25 points, Twin Falls, 50, Mountain Home, 94, Wood River, 100, Skyview, 111 and Nampa, 190.

Alycia Crandall led the Mountain Home girls with a time of 21:25, which placed her 14th, just ahead of Haley Schaefer, who had a time of 21:40. Jordan Vivier was 18th with a time of 22:17. Kaycee Cameron finished 26th with a 23:27 and McKenzie Dorr just missed her PR with a 25:08, which placed her 47th. Jessi Cameron ran a 25:15, Tiana Svetkovich, 25:38, Ashley Mayberry, 25:52 and Ashley Sasaki, 58:25.

"The kids ran well. The girls finished third behind a very strong Mountain View and Twin Falls team and ahead of Wood River, which had finished ahead of us earlier this year, and also beating league rivals Skyview and Nampa," said Tiger cross country coach Doug Root.

Twin Falls edged Mountain View 32-33 to win the boys race. Wood River was third with 89, Skyview had 104, Mountain Home, 149, and Nampa, 155.

Joe Gutierrez led the Mountain Home runners with a season-tying 18:55, which placed him 27th out of 118 runners. Dylan Johnson ran a 19:22, good for 42nd. Robby Pack ran a 19:37 (47th), Garrett Wood ran a 19:59 (55th), and Taylor Croft came in with a 20:33 (68th). Chris Austin ran a 20:35, Gavin Cline, 20:54, Stephen Bush, 21:15, James Simon, 21:24, Aaron Menheart, 23:20 (a new PR), and Petr Kucem, 25:43.

"The boys finished fifth, which placed them ahead of Nampa, which had beaten us the last two times we've run against them, so I was very pleased with our performances," said Coach Root.

The Tigers go to the District III 4A Cross Country Meet at Eagle Island State Park tomorrow (Thursday).

"It's going to be a tough run," said Coach Root. "The girls -- Emmett's been closing on us weekly, Middleton ran real close against us at Jerome -- those are probably the two teams that we've got to compete against most. Kuna and Bishop Kelly, right now they're a step above us, but if they falter, we could slip into one of those positions as well. The top four teams will qualify for state, and we should be right there with the girls.

"With the boys, we're just going to have to beat everybody who has a blue uniform on."

The girls race starts at 4 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday) at Eagle Island State Park.