Courtesy Heather Quarantillo
FRISCO — The Summit High School cross-country running team had one of its best meets of the season Wednesday, with the boys winning and the girls finishing in sixth place at the Rifle Invitational in Rifle.
The boys team won the meet with a score of 47. At the meet at Rifle Golf Course, which featured 21 schools, the Tigers were led by senior Max Bonenberger. He ran to third place with a time of 16 minutes and 40 seconds.
Summit head coach Heather Quarantillo said Bonenberger led the race for the first mile before settling in to the lead pack. Running behind the lead pack, Summit senior Jeremiah Vaille finished in fourth place with a time of 17:04.
Summit freshman Dom Remeikis finished in 11th place with a time of 17:33. Quarantillo said she was proud of the full Tigers boys team, which showcased its depth en route to the meet championship. That included senior Paul Hans, who ran to 15th place in 17:44; freshman Zach McBride, who finished in 19th place in 18:04; and the returning Sam Burke. Burke, who has been battling a strained tendon in his lower leg, ran to 27th with a time 18:14.
“It’s an exciting time for us, especially with Sam Burke back in the mix,” Quarantillo said. The tendon strain hasn’t allowed him to run very much but seems like he hasn’t lost much, and we know he’ll do better next week.”
Running behind Burke, Summit’s Giovanni Marquez broke his personal record by 17 seconds, running to 32nd with a time of 18:22.
A week out from next Thursday’s regional meet, Quarantillo is encouraged by the strong running by the boys team, finishing ahead of High Country rivals Steamboat Springs (70 team points) and Battle Mountain (125).
“It was a good team performance down in our pack with Dom, Paul and Zach being there in the top 19,” Quarantillo said. “We’re really encouraged. This is good progress as we head into the regional meet next week. We have our squad determined for what we can do at regionals, so we’re off and running, so to speak.”
Tigers girls
In the girls race, Summit was powered to a sixth-place finish by senior Grace Staberg. She posted a strong time of 19:13 on the windy course, leading for the early portion of the race, pushing the pace much like last week to finish on the individual podium.
Summit earned 156 points in the team competition. Battle Mountain (92), Steamboat (99) and Palisade (106) podiumed in the girls team race.
Behind Staberg, Summit’s other top runners included a fantastic day from freshman Paige Wescott. In 29th, Wescott ran 21:58, which was 18 seconds faster than her previous personal-record time and the first time she’s run sub-22 minutes on a 5,000-meter course.
Summit’s other top runners for the girls team were Logan Reid (44th place, 22:26), Aubree Confer (48th, 22:44), Kaelin Love (49th, 22:46), Nika Dassatti (58th, 23:13) and Alice Wescott (61st, 23:32) who clawed back after a spill early in the race.
Summit’s seventh-fastest girls runner, Sadie Schroder, broke her personal record by 44 seconds, running to 65th with a time of 23:37.
Next Thursday’s regional meet is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. at the Lincoln Park Golf Course in Grand Junction.
Courtesy Heather Quarantillo
Courtesy Heather Quarantillo