John Raffel
Sports Scene
Gene LeBron’s Ithaca girls cross country team had that magic touch during the TVC West season.
But it wasn’t easy.
In the final jamboree of the season, the Yellowjackets edged St. Louis 43-47 to clinch the conference title.
Sophomore Hannah Thayer was sixth in 21:06.90 for Ithaca, while Sara Austin was seventh in 21:25.3, Vanessa Waldron ninth in 21:40, and Kara Giles 10th in 21:43.1.
“The season’s been going great, and we’ve really done well as a team,” LeBron said. “We got third place at the Don Baese Invitational and beat several ranked teams there, which got us ranked in the top 10. We were ranked 10th in the state. We won the TVC meet. We’ve done well, considering the youth of the team. It came down to the young runners. The veterans have done what they’re expected to do. The young runners have shined and have helped out the team a lot.”
Thayer has emerged as the No 1 runner in recent days.
“At the beginning of the year, Vanessa Waldron was our No. 1 runner,” LeBron said. “It would go back and forth for awhile. Hannah has consistently been our No. 1 runner. She ran 20:22 at the Don Baese Invitational.”
Giles, who has run a 20:59, has been a team leader, LeBron noted.
Jamie Gose has never run before.
“She played volleyball last year and came out this summer but has been a great surprise for us,” LeBron said. “She was our No. 1 runner for a few meets the beginning of the year and is still doing very well for us. Our pack is so tight.”
Austin “has established herself as the No. 2 runner in the team.”
Tim Lambrecht’s Ithaca boys team was second in the TVC West Division, winning one of three jamborees and taking second in the other two.
“Even though we were hoping to be first, we got beat by a tough Breckenridge squad.” Lambrecht said. “We were second at the Oiler Invite in Mount Pleasant.”
The Yellowjackets were also fourth at the Don Baese Invitational in Carson City-Crystal, for the best performance by Ithaca at that meet.
“We’ve been running better at our invitationals and maybe not in our league,” Lambrecht said.
Stephen Merchant and Kaleb Coston, a pair of juniors, have traded off at the No. 1 spot for the Yellowjackets. Merchant was 15th in 17:00 and Coston 33rd in 17:34 at the All-TVC meet.
“We’re kind of on a two-year plan,” Lambrecht said. “When we started the year, we really talked about what our goals would be for the next two years. Our top five runners are all juniors. We’ve approached this season as having two-year goals. This year, our goal is to get to the state meet and be a top 10 team. We’ve got to have some bigger goals. Our top seven are all underclassmen. It looks promising for next year if everyone stays healthy.”
Kaleb Baulitz and Alik Helms have been the No. 3 and 4 runners for Breckenridge. Freshman John Lambrecht and senior Tyler Anderson are the No. 5 and 6 runners for the Jackets.