Bement and Cerro Gordo Cross Country Teams Compete at Sullivan

The Bement and Cerro Gordo cross country seasons kicked off at Sullivan’s Tabor Park 3-mile course on Thursday, August 27.

Cerro Gordo’s Dylan Howell with a great effort came in third crossing the finish line in 17:23 with fellow teammates Luke Dobson coming in 14th at 19:32, Collin Warren was 15th at 19:49, and John Freese finished 21st at 20:44. The boys placed 4th overall with a score of 83 points.

For Bement Jacob Stoerger finished 20th with a time of 20:36 and Jessee Quick came home 24th at 20:50. They placed 5th overall scoring 132 points.

The Lady Bulldogs freshmen Caroline Hill crossed the finish line with a time of 26:39 in her cross country season debut and sophomore Haley Garrett was 15th overall at 26:57.

Hannah Hayes, Lady Bronco runner finished 18 with a time of 29:25.

In the Open race, two Bronco guys Hunter Rincker was 6th overall with a solid effort of 22:44 and teammate Jarret Lents finished 9th with a time of 24:12.

Bement’s cross country coach Andrew Brown is starting his 7th year coaching cross country and said, “This is definitely the most unique year. It’s nice to be back with the kids and seeing them compete again, and they seem excited to have some sense of normalcy.”

Brown’s team has picked up a handful of new runners to the sport since there is no other sports going on at this time. Joining the girls team is sophomore Haley Garret and freshmen Caroline Hill as both would have played volleyball instead. Another addition is sophomore Kade Alumbaugh on the boys team because of COVID.

Two returning Bulldog runners who look very strong early are junior Jacob Stoerger and senior Jessee Quick. Also, much improved is junior Aidan Marshall and senior Curtis Kalk, returning as well for his 4th and final year of cross country. Freshmen Evan Fogerson, joins the team and he had a huge impact on their middle school state team last year.

He added, “The school district has been very proactive in planning to keep everyone safe, and sports has been no different. Our kids must wear their mask to practice and to the meets, and if they don’t have it, they must turn around. We take temps at the beginning of every practice, and we do the symptom check.”