Beaver XC Improve Leaps and Bounds at Hutch

 
The Pratt Community College Beaver Cross Country team went to Hutchinson Sat., Sept. 17 looking to see improvement from their first race of the season at Wichita State. This would also be the last time the Beavers would run the short courses until right before Regionals in late October. And they made the most of it by getting personal bests by every Beaver that ran at the Blue Dragon Invitational on the day.
 
The women were up first and they were feeling very confident going into the race according to Coach Cyrus Hall. It showed in a big performance from all four girls in the four kilometer race. Elena Botello again led the way for Pratt. Botello was runner up in the race to a senior from McPherson College. Botello’s time was a personal best 15:23. In addition to the personal best, Botello was the first junior college girl to cross the line, and she, the winner from McPherson and two other girls shattered last years’ course record time.
 
Botello was followed by Vicky Ibarra. Ibarra continues to run well week in and week out. Ibarra placed seventh with a time of 16:23. Following Ibarra with her best performance of the year to date was Nikki Pyeatt. Pyeatt placed 12th in a time of 16:52. Rounding out the PCC runners on the day was Bre Tallant. Tallant placed 19th, but improved her time almost four full minutes from the first week of the season.
 
“I really like our girl’s team right now,” Hall said. “They are working hard, and their confidence is through the roof. Every week they compete hard and it just shows them what they are capable of. The sky is the limit; we are just scratching the surface.”
 
The men lined up next to run a six kilometer race. Once again, Bernardo Miranda led the way for the men’s squad. Miranda, placed 20th of 27 runners in time of 21:05. He was followed closely behind by Blake Thompson and Sage Boman. Thompson and Boman placed 22nd and 24th respectively and ran 21:30 and 21:35. Both men improved from their first race by as much as 5 minutes for Thompson and 6 minutes for Boman. Coach Hall is very optimistic about the progress of his men’s squad.
 
“Our boys are battling,” Hall said. “Every week, we get in a little better shape. Sage Boman is finally starting to catch up to the freshman boys. We are looking forward to next weekend; we will finally put all five of our guys out there.”
 
Both PCC squads will strap on the spikes again this weekend at Harvey County East Lake Park just east of Newton. The Tabor Blue jays will be hosting the weekend’s meet. The women’s race will begin at 10 a.m. with the men’s race following shortly after at 10:45 a.m. The women will be running their traditional race distance of 5k and the men will run the traditional 8k.