Despite the hills, the athletes did their best and surprisingly well! Had it been a flat course, many of them may have reached the PR level, but it wasn't to be except for Daulton. Of the current five Freshmen still running, he's the last to run a 5k race under 21 minutes. As a team, the JV Boys placed third behind Liberty, a class 4 team, and Benton, a District opponent with eight runners, none of which are Freshmen.
Finishing after the Tigers were Liberty North, Platte County, and Smithville, all District opponents with six or more runners each and no more than three Freshmen on their teams. Even Conference opponent, Richmond, had a similar team that wasn't able to outperform the Frosh boys.
The most interesting fact was that four of the Freshmen boys - Bailey, Daulton, Ben, and Brent - all finished faster than two of Excelsior's Varsity Seniors! That's an eye-opener!
So, after talking with the team, it was decided that the JV Boys team is done for the season. Instead, there will be a shift of the best runners into Varsity. For Kearney, the Varsity starters will most likely be Austin, Christian, Robert, Jacob, Bailey, Daulton, and Ben with Brent and Seth as alternates in case of injury, illness, or some other anomaly. If not used as alternates, they will be entered into the JV Boys race.
Katelen and Ali, on the other hand, will remain on JV at Kearney, although Katelen, and possibly Ali, will race on Varsity with Micaela at the upcoming Missouri River Valley Conference Championships Meet.
In all, the Tigers racked up eight medals and one personal record time. I believe the medal count is up to 46 now. For complete individual and team results at the home meet, see Excelsior Springs Invitational.