Kanab High School kicked off their 2024 cross country season last Saturday at the SUU High School Invitational in Cedar City. Runners from 14 different schools, 1A-4A, showed up to compete in the early season meet. The meet was split up into different divisions to allow for a better disbursement of athletes: 55 girls in the Varsity section, 110 girls in the JV section. While the wind added insult to injury by blowing in the runners faces during the uphill climbs of the course, Cowboy runners were still able to pull off course and personal bests.
Kanab’s Kenidee Glazier had a great debut to her Junior season, winning the Varsity race in a time of 18:23.38. Glazier’s time was 16 seconds faster than the time she turned in last year on the same course. Pine View’s Emmalee Williams gave a great push for the title, finishing in 18:32.99, with Panguitch’s own Brooke Albrecht holding on for third. “I feel like it was a good opener for me. I know what I can do better next time, but it feels good to be back competing again.” - Kenidee Glazier (Kanab)
Newcomer Allie Johnson showed no sign of weakness in her first cross country meet. The Senior was able to pass several competitors on the final stretch to nab a top 30 finish in the JV race. Her time of 24:28.32 put her across the finish line, with veteran Charity Bowman coming in at 25:49.79. Freshman McKenna Bateman ran well for her first cross country race, punching in a time of 28:25.74 on the course, with Senior Mikkel Jones rounding out the Lady Cowboys with a time of 30:34.80.
“I’m so proud of how these girls ran today,” said Coach Brooke Glazier, “our veterans all ran better than last year and stepped up into leadership roles, while our newcomers didn’t get rattled by the large schools and raced very well for their first meet.”
The boy’s team was led by Senior Austin Church, whose time of 17:46.92 landed him in the Top 10, with a ninth place finish. “Austin ran very smart and competed well today,” said Coach Levi LeFevre, “He’s been putting in a lot of work and I’m excited to see how it pays off this year.”
Mason Roundy was the next finisher for the Cowboys, punching in a time of 18:07.02, over two minutes faster than what he ran on the course last year, and teammate Levi Clarkson followed suit with not only a course PR, but a three-minute career best to boot: 19:05.22. Kanab’s Top Five was then rounded out with Senior Kyle Brown (20:50.14) and Freshman Tason Wheeler (20:59.05).
Kanab’s other finishers included outstanding performances from Freshmen Lucas Downward (21:03.58) and Ayden Palmer (23:22.72), Sophomore Kai Iceogle (23:23.17), and Freshman Ryan Josie (28:20.36). The Cowboys finished seventh overall as a team out of 17 teams, and were the top 1A-2A school at the meet. Full results from the meet can be found at athletic.net/Cross-Country/meet/240168/info.
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