Eagle runners swept by Hardrockers
Jesse Jaramillo and Tukker Romey placed second for Chadron State’s cross country teams as the men’s team fell by 20 points and the women’s by seven to South Dakota School of Mines, Saturday, at Chadron State College.
Shaving 37 seconds off his performance from CSC’s home meet in 2019, Jaramillo, sophomore of Scottsbluff, recorded a personal best after finishing the eight-kilometer race with a 26:30.35 time. Running with a hurt foot, Jaramillo credits Head Coach Luke Karamitros’ advice for his performance.
“I think I did a lot better than I thought I was going to do because leading up my foot was giving me a lot of trouble, so I wasn’t too sure,” He said. “But warming up in the morning it didn’t bother me too much, so I didn’t worry about it. This year I just followed coach’s advice more – he wanted us to get out a little slower, a little more conservative. He told me that if the first guy starts to go out hard, then I will go hard with him. So, I just kept with that and worked hard on the up-hills.”
Placing second in the five-kilometer race with a 20:09.26 time, Romey, freshman of Gering, led the women’s team for CSC. After Romey, seniors Emma Willadsen, of Eaton, Colorado, and Madison Watson, of Mitchell, finished 12 and 20 seconds behind the true freshman.
“Tukker competed like a warrior this past weekend,” Karamitros said. “Tukker ran controlled for the first half of the race which allowed her to close extremely well. She did a great job of listening to the game plan and believing the process which led her to build positive momentum through the race.”
Finishing first with a time of 20:00.63 in the 5K was Hardrocker Taylor Bright, sophomore of Casper, Wyoming, who was nearly nine seconds faster than CSC’s Romey.
Other women’s runners finishing under 21 minutes were Sydney Settles, junior of Lincoln, with a 20:47.71 time and Hannah Wilkie, freshman of Rangely, Colorado, with a 20:58.60 time. Kassyl Swinney, freshman of Gordon, capped the women’s team with a 21:35.84 time.
For the men’s team, runners finishing within 28 minutes were Noah Burtis, sophomore of Berthoud, Colorado, with a 27:21.79 time and Garrett Avery, sophomore of Sheridan, Wyoming, with a 27:33.72 time. Finishing at 28:13.94, freshman Ethan Roberts, of Rapid City, South Dakota, placed 11th with Treyvin Schlueter, freshman of Wood Lake, just one second behind. Jayson Caudell, freshman of Rock Springs, Wyoming, finished with a 29:33.71 time.
Finishing first with a 25:43.12 time was Hardrocker Timothy Dunham, junior of Grand Forks, North Dakota, earned Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Runner of the Week honors.
Attempting to lower the men’s team score, Joaquin Venzor, fresman of Greeley, Colorado, sprinted the remaining 100 feet of his 8K to pass Hardrocker Hunter Prather, freshman of Grand Junction, Colorado, but fell behind by .01 seconds with a 28:41.56 time as opposed to Prather’s 28:41.55 time.
“I was like ‘If I pass this guy up, that’s less points for us,’ and that’s what I did, decided to take off, it was a very close race,” Venzor said. “If I start out hard and finish even faster, that’s all I can ask for. Racing is super hard, especially here in college where we do 8Ks, it’s a lot different than high school.
Chadron State will prepare for the RMAC meet Oct. 24, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
“Our teams can still improve by running as a unit,” He said. “Saturday was certainly a step in the right direction but I know that our group can still execute at a higher level which will allow us to compete significantly better at the conference meet.”