The Westside Warriors took a trip to Lawrence, Kansas to compete in the Rim Rock Farm High School Classic last Friday.  

It was a large meet with over 100 teams competing, and a great experience and opportunity for the team.

Seniors Claire White and Stella Miner placed in the top 10 at the meet competing against almost 200 other competitors. 

White was excited about the uncertainty of who she was running against.

“Not knowing who is actually in your race is kind of a leg up I think. It takes away from the stress I usually get going to Nebraska meets,” White said.

White’s excitement definitely helped with her performance.  Finishing fourth out of 198 other runners with a time of 18:24.2.  

White has a bright future ahead of her as she will be running at an NCAA Division One school next fall, and her list of schools has gotten shorter.

White said, “I have narrowed down my schools to Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, and Nebraska, but we will see what happens.”

On the boys team, junior Ryan Kugler exceeded expectations by being the top runner for the team, finishing with a time of 16:14.8.  He came in 24th competing against 281 other runners.

“Honestly, I really did not expect that performance at all.  I was a little nervous going into the meet, it was a really hard course and a lot of runners, ” Kugler said.

Kugler was a little surprised by his performance because Kugler usually isn’t called upon to lead the team.

His success this season has given him more confidence heading into the most important meets of the season.  

“I feel like there’s a lot more pressure on myself.  I’m not really just competing against myself.  I’m actually competing against other runners to try and get that state medal,” Kugler said.

Runners are finding their stride at the right time as they will be competing in the Metro Championship meet that takes place October 5th.