Article Contributed on: 10/4/2006 9:14:42 PM
Running fast to stay warm was the proper way to deal with a cold, windy, rainy afternoon at the hilly 5K (3.1 mile) course of the Dakota Ridge Invitational yesterday. The chill seemed to inspire the Golden High girls cross-country team to run faster as they won their first meet of the year. Competing against 9 other area high schools the Golden High girls took the 2nd-(Rachel Hebberd) and 4th-place (Hannah LaFalce) individual finishes out of about 50 contestants to win the Division II group. Manitou Springs and SummitHigh schools placed 2nd and 3rd in the team standings.The Golden High Boys team also did well placing 5 th out of 10 teams in Division II. Senior James Beetham led the Golden boys team placing 6th individually with a time of 18 min. 23 sec for the 5K event.
The girls team has done well at other meets too, including the well attended Golden High Invitational where they finished 2nd out of ten teams. Freshman Rachel Hebberd (21 min 1 sec) and sophomore Hannah LaFalce (21:22) finished 5th and 6th, respectively, out of approximately 70 competitors at this meet. D'Evelyn won the team and individual events with junior Kevin Williams placing first with a stellar time of 15 min 57 sec. This was the second year of the Golden Invitational and there were over 300 high school runners participating in Varsity and JV 5K events. The boys team came in 5th at the Golden meet led by James Beetham (17:49) who finished 8th with sophomore Jackson Williams and junior Robbie Jones placing among the top 15 finishers.