Cross Country hits full stride at home

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By Tripp Mickle, Tahoe World
September 25, 2003

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The colors of cross country uniforms from 25 Nevada and California schools blanketed the campus of North Tahoe Sept. 19 for the 28th annual Kiwanis-Laker Invitational.

Over 600 runners ranging from the intermediate level to the varsity squad took off around the 3.4 mile loop in 30-minute increments.

"All the schools of Nevada get to come see each other, plus they get other teams mixing it up," Lakers' Coach Warren Mills said. "The last thing you won't to do is step up to the line and know the results."

The groups started on the upper field and ran out to Burton Creek and circled back around to the baseball field for the finish line. The big races came at the end of the day, and the Lakers held their own on their home turf.

The girls finished fourth overall, behind Lowry, Incline and Modesto, respectively, while the guys team clinched second behind Lowry.

"We're getting our legs," Mills said. "Our team's coming together and making a move."

Nathan McCready, the team's number six runner, had one of the most impressive performances, knocking two-and-a-half minutes off his time from last year. Brian Alders, who runs numberone, also came up big, dropping his time by one minute from last year.

"We had our first four runners on the guys side within 40 seconds of each other," Mills said. "The girls were the same thing - all within a minute. That's tight."

The girls ran strong behind the lead of Mariella Ramirez, who finished 16th overall with a time of 25:27. Carly McCready and Erin Altick were close behind at 23rd and 24th, as were Amanda Kimmey and Julianna Mills at numbers 26 and 27.

The boys followed the lead of Alders, who finished 13th, and Fernando Medina who finish 15th. Close behind were Josh McCready (20) and Jacob McDermott (24).

"There were a lot of nightmares in getting all of the schools here," Mills said. "All in all, though, the meet went well. We had great support."

Mills, who usually oversees the event, was out of town, but Elaine Basin and Eric McCready stepped up to run the event.

"I'm feeling good about this group," Mills said of this year's Lakers team. "We're chasing Lowry now and its going to be tough."