The Ellsworth High School Cross Country runners competed at the Lakeside Invitational Meet this past Thursday at the Downs Golf Course.

Since all six member schools of our NCAA League compete here, our runners not only compete for medals in the Lakeside Invitational, they also compete for High School All-League honors. Lakeside gave medals to the top 25 individuals in the varsity races, and the top 15 runners in the junior varsity races. To earn NCAA All-League honors, runners need to be one of the top 10 runners out of all the league runners competing.

For 2021, Byron Johnson earned All-League honors by finishing eight overall out of 31 NCAA League runners competing. He ran a strong race, only three seconds off his personal best time to earn his first league medal. In Lakeside Invitational scoring, with all runners, 82 total boys, Byron medaled in 10th overall. It was a good day to run, and the times and performances were strong, with personal best or season’s best times recorded by other members of the team.

In the girls’ varsity race, Kirsten Meier competed in her final career Lakeside and NCAA meet. She finished with a season’s best time of 26:00, finishing 48th overall, and 23rd in League.

In the boys’ varsity race, Byron led the team with his 10th place overall/eighth place league, time of 18:16. Colton Bettenbrock ran a season’s best 20:37 to finish 42nd overall, 22nd in league. Trenton Holmes ran a 21:46 to finish 62nd overall, 28th in league. Jacob Togersen ran a 22:08, finishing in 66th overall, 29th in league. Aidan Johnson ran a personal best time of 24:01 to finish 73rd overall, 30th in league. The varsity boys’ team finished ninth in overall Lakeside Invitational scoring, and fifth overall in league.

In the Junior Varsity girls’ race, Noah Goss ran 26:52 to medal in 11th. The next action for the teams will be

The next action for the teams will be at the 3A Regional Meet at Southeast of Saline on Saturday, Oct. 23. The girls race starts at 10 a.m., while the boys race starts at 10:45 a.m. The top three teams and top 10 finishers are guaranteed the opportunity to run at the final meet of the season, the State Meet Saturday, Oct. 30, at Wamego.