Cross country squads place during Soda Springs event

The Mountain Home Tiger cross country team made the long trek to Soda Springs Saturday for the Cardinal Classic battling thunderstorms and tornado warnings along the way.

Once there, the Mountain Home girls came in 14th and the boys 16th in their respective races.

Aerial Groene led the Mountain Home girls, finishing 81st with a time of 24 minutes, 32.10 seconds. Alicia Reynolds finished 87th at 25:54.17, Shilo Clark came in 92nd at 27:10.30, Myra Vasquez was 93rd at 27:14.00 and Tracey Gordon crossed the finish line at 94th with 29:15.00.

Jake Schaefer led the Mountain Home boys, finishing 52nd with a time of 19 minutes, 01.52 seconds. Daniel Courtright was 83rd at 20:06.51, Steven Kreyche crossed the finish line at 90th at 20:23.30, Cody Ashby was 107th at 22:24.44 while Nolan Pasqualetti came in 109th at 22:52.54.

All things considered, Tiger cross country coach Doug Root said, he was pleased with the teams' efforts at the Soda Springs meet.

"Everybody who ran at Twin Falls improved their times this week, except one, so we're showing improvement," the coach said. "We still have not put a complete boys varsity or complete girls varsity together and we should improve when we get to full strength."

The coach remains hopeful that will happen within the next two weeks.

The Tigers are scheduled to run in Hailey this week, but due to air quality from the forest fires in the area, officials may decide to move the outdoor venue to Twin Falls.