By Mike Maltais
The Liberty Bell High School varsity cross-country boys delivered strong performances with a first-place finish at the Bridgeport Invitational on Sept. 16 followed by eighth place at the Wenatchee Invitational among larger state-ranked teams on Saturday (Sept. 20).
That said, the scene-stealer may have been the results turned in by Liberty Bell Junior High’s boys and girls at the Wenatchee Invitational, plus the finish of Methow Valley Elementary School student Liv Aspholm in the sixth-grade boys/girls competition.
Aspholm completed the 1-mile course in 6 minutes, 41 seconds, for first place among all sixth-grade runners.
Novie McCabe and Gretta Scholz finished one-two among middle school girls in the 1-mile competition, with respective times of 6:12 and 6:24.
Emerson Worrell placed first among middle school boys with a time of 6:04, and Peter Aspholm wasn’t far behind at fourth position in 6:26.
Worrell, Walker Hall, McCabe and Aspholm also finished first through fourth at Bridgeport, followed by Scholz in seventh and Logan Hall in eighth place.
The varsity boys clinched first at Bridgeport with a 37-point total, led by Ben Klemmeck’s first-place finish in both the mile and 2-mile events.
Koharu Yonebayashi, the only LBHS varsity girl runner, placed third in the mile and eighth in the two-mile.
The competition at Walla Walla Point Park was the third race in eight days for the Mountain Lions, and that under temperatures reaching the high 80s.
Among a field of large teams and state-ranked runners including 1A state champion Moses Lake, Ben Klemmeck finished ninth, Josiah Klemmeck 37th, Willy Duguay 46th, Emmett Fink 56th and Carter Dornfeld 58th to take eighth place overall.
The team will get a few days’ rest before heading to the Trojan Invitational at the Mill Bay Golf course in Manson on Saturday (Sept. 27).
