Liberty Bell’s Ben Klemmeck led the way in the varsity boys’ 5,000-meter race.
By Don Nelson
A couple of hundred miles of summer training paid off for Ben Klemmeck as the Liberty Bell High School senior cruised to a first-place finish in the 5,000-meter boys’ varsity race last weekend at the Moses Lake Invitational meet.
Klemmeck led 97 other runners with a time of 17:07.2 over the three-lap course, which included some hay bales the runners had to leap over. That is the best time in the state for the 1B/2B classification. Klemmeck finished 24 seconds ahead of Deer Park’s Cody Bollum.
In team scoring, Liberty Bell finished tied for eighth among 15 teams with a total score of 190. Royal finished first with 71 points.
Klemmeck finished fourth in the state meet last year as a junior.
Following Klemmeck in the varsity boys’ race for the Mountain Lions were sophomore Eli Nielsen, 12th place in 18:37.2 — fourth-best in the state this year; ninth-grader Emerson Worrell, 53rd in 21:20.5; sophomore Tim Haley, 63rd in 21:58.8; ninth-grader Peter Aspholm, 64th in 22:05.7; and senior Geza Sukovaty, 67th in 22:25.6.
The Liberty Bell varsity girls placed two runners in the top 10 finishers over the same course. Ninth-grader Athena Milani took sixth place in 21:59.5, while senior Ella Hall claimed 10th place in 22:42.2. Ninth-graders Ava Mott (24:14.9) and Icel Sukovaty (24:15.5) took 25th and 26th place respectively, less than a second apart. Liberty Bell had only four runners so did not place in the team scoring.
The Mountain Lions also had winners in the sixth/seventh/eighth-grade girls’ 1,500m race, and in the boys’ race over the same course.
On the girls’ side, eighth-grader Novie McCabe finished ahead of 39 other runners with a time of 10:24.7. She was followed by eighth-grader Rivers Leeman, fifth place in 11:48.2; seventh-grader Lindsay Worrell, sixth in 11:56.8; seventh-grader Eva Weymuller, 13th in 12:44.5; and seventh-grader Annika Libby, 21st in 13:56.3.
In the boys’ race, eighth-grader Walker Hall claimed first place among 40 runners with a time of 10:07.6. Seventh-grader Ian Delong finished sixth in 10:52.9; seventh-grader Travis Grialou was eighth in 10:54.0; eighth-grader Logan Hall was 12th in 11:43.4; and seventh-grader Aidan Catlin was 30th in 13:51.6.
In the junior varsity boys’ 5,000m race, ninth-grader Simon Studen placed 29th in 22:58.7; ninth-grader Michael Mott was 49th in 24:33.2; ninth-grader Zach Strong was 67th in 28:07.3; and ninth-grader Ian Dornfeld was 68th in 28:15.6.
In the girls’ junior varsity 5,000m race, Liberty Bell ninth-grader Sage Borgias was 18th in 28:08.6; ninth-grader Larkin Lucy was 30th in 32:03.7; and sophomore Mackenzie Woodworth was 32nd in 32:40.
Assistant coach Erik Brooks said it was encouraging to have so many Liberty Bell runners participating. “The numbers are good, and that’s fun,” he said.
Brooks said the Mountain Lions ran strategically sound races. “We generally were patient in the first part of the race and then moved up,” he said. Winners Klemmeck and McCabe were farther back in the pack before gaining ground and taking the lead, Brooks said.
Klemmeck, who trained over the summer, was “smooth, strong and confident,” Brooks said. “That’s what running 200 summer miles will do for you.”
The Mountain Lions will travel to Spokane on Saturday (Sept. 19) for the Runners Soul Erik Anderson Invite. Their next meet, on Sept. 26, will be somewhat closer in Manson.
