Liberty Bell’s Eli Nielsen finished fourth in the varsity boys’ 5,000-meter race at Manson last weekend.
By Don Nelson
The Liberty Bell High School girls’ cross-country team, led by freshman Novie McCabe’s runaway win, took six of the first seven places at the Trojan Invitational in Manson last weekend.
The Lady Lions were the only school with a complete team so scored a perfect 15 points in dominating the field in the 5,000-meter race.
The boys’ team finished third behind Tonasket and Brewster, with junior Eli Nielsen taking fourth place in the 5K run.
McCabe won by nearly 2 minutes over second-place Johnna Terris of Tonasket. Following in third through seventh place for Liberty Bell were sophomore Athena Milani, freshman Gretta Scholz, freshman Rivers Leeman, sophomore Ava Mott and senior Taya DeLong. Sophomore Sage Borgias was 13th.
On the boys’ side, Nielsen was followed by sophomore Peter Aspholm in ninth place, sophomore Emerson Worrell in 10th, senior Carter Dornfeld in 16th, sophomore Lazo Gitchos in 20th, sophomore Simon Studen in 21st, junior Tim Haley 33rd, freshman Logan Hall 36th, sophomore Zach Strong 42nd and sophomore Michael Mott 43rd.
Liberty Bell’s middle school teams also fared well, with the boys and girls each taking first place in team competition in the 2.5K race.
Lady Lions runners took 10 of the first 12 places, with eighth-grader Liv Aspholm taking first place. After her came seventh-grader Jori Grialou in second, eighth-grader Keeley Brooks in third, eighth-grader Lindsay Worrell in sixth, eighth-grader Eva Weymuller in seventh, seventh-grader Stephanie Strong in ninth, seventh-grader Mariah Lucy in 10th, eighth-grader Lena Nelson in 11th and seventh-grader Anja Sorensen in 12th. Seventh-grader Payten Kaufman was a few places back in 16th.
Eighth-grader Bodie Paul took first for the middle school boys, leading a 1-2-3 sweep for the Mountain Lions. Eighth-grader Travis Grialou was second and eighth-grader Dusty Patterson was third. Eighth-grader Ian DeLong was fifth, seventh-grader Zane Strome eighth, eighth-grader Andrew Kominak 13th, eighth-grader Aidan Catlan 16th and seventh-grader Eli Neitlich 22nd.
Liberty Bell coach Craig Herlihy noted that “Novie [McCabe] just crushed the field. She just puts the pedal down and never lets up.” Milani ran a strong last mile and finishing kick, Herlihy added.
The boys’ varsity team was without some its top runners including junior Cade Quigley and freshman Walker Hall, Herlihy said, but Aspholm and Worrell stepped up for the Mountain Lions.
On Saturday (Oct. 1), Liberty Bell travels to the Nike Twilight Invitational in Marysville, a huge meet with nearly 80 schools competing, Herlihy said. “Almost everyone else is bigger, but we should hold our own,” the coach said.
