eTrailblazer: Cross Country

Great Races at State

On Saturday, Kodi Downes and Jordyn Picolet represented Council Grove High School at the 3A State Cross Country meet in Wamego. Downes finished 2nd to cap an amazing freshman season, and Picolet finished 8th in her second trip to the state meet.

Kodi Downes, 2nd Place, 16:35.15

The boys' race started to get interesting about a mile and a half in, when Downes, Cormick Logue of Girard, and Ryan Heline of Smoky Valley broke away from the rest of the field to make it a three man race. They were all three stride for stride going into the third mile. With a little over half a mile left in the race, Logue started to pull away. Downes and Heline were battling each other again as they did last week at Regionals, when Heline bested Downes by 36 hundredths of a second, passing him at the finish line. But this time, Downes held his lead to capture second place, beating Heline by 82 hundredths of a second.

Jordyn Picolet, 8th Place, 21:17.24

In the last race of the day, Picolet was in 15th place at the mile mark, and there were about 20 more runners behind her, chasing a medal. Jordyn has been so good in the middle mile all season long, and Saturday was no different. As the race started to spread out, Picolet started to pick up spots. She had worked her way up to 10th by the two mile mark, and picked up two more before crossing the finish line. Her strength in the second half of the race was impressive, charging up the hills and battling the strong winds to pick up those spots while not allowing herself to be caught from behind by a single runner.

Jordyn Picolet and Kodi Downes

Both Kodi and Jordyn have had great seasons and finished them with exclamation points at the state meet. They handled the windy conditions and were absolute beasts up the hills. I think our work on hills throughout the season, and especially the last two weeks, paid off as they both looked as good as any runner on all of the hills the Wamego course has. They both had really good game plans for the day, and then went out and executed them. They have turned in two of the most impressive seasons in CGXC history.

Story and Photos by Coach Gant

Posted at 03:06 PM in Cross Country | Permalink | Comments (0)

League of Firsts

The Braves Cross Country team competed at the Flint Hill League Meet on Thursday at Mission Valley. The high school races resulted in some firsts for the Braves.

Jordyn Picolet is the first CGXC runner to win a FHL title as she won the girls' 5k with a time of 20:29. Leading wire to wire, it was tight the first mile, with West Franklin's Lily Judd and Central Heights' Taryn Compton on Picolet's heels. Coach Gant thought that Judd was deliberately hanging back to draft and lull Jordyn into a sense of security, but if that was the case, Jordyn wasn't having it in the middle mile, stretching out her lead. Picolet kept stretching her lead in the back half of the race to cruise to the first place finish and a PR of 20:29.

Shortly after Jordyn Picolet became Council Grove's first FHL Champion, Kodi Downes became our second. Avenging an early defeat to AJ Rubio of Mission Valley, Downes turned in a time of 16:28 to win the boys FHL title. He had to keep Rubio at bay and turned an early ten second lead into an 18 second victory. The high school squad had one season best time, eight PRs and two first place finishes. Complete Results

The high school team will look to take some of these good vibes with them to what will most likely be the fastest Regional in 3A this year at Southeast of Saline on the 24th. Girls will race at 10:00 am, and boys will race at 10:30.

Photos by MHouse; Story by Coach Gant

Posted at 08:51 AM in Cross Country | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cross Country Invitational

Jordyn Picolet, 5th - 21:35

Bree Hilton PR

Cahaya Dody PR

Kodi Downes recorded his fourth consecutive first place finish this season. 16:41

Jesse Rodgers, 25th - PR 19:16

Gavin Mills PR 20:20

Jackson Comer PR 20:51

Chase Buchman PR

David Seymour PR

Photos by MHouse; Editing by Ashley Irwin

Posted at 04:28 PM in Cross Country | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Orchard

Jordyn Picolet turned in another impressive race with a time of 22:04 and a 4th place finish. It got strung out in the back half with the top five girls all fairly spread apart which can make it tough to find that finishing gear, but Jordyn ran a strong race throughout.

Cahaya Dody

Kodi Downes won his 2nd consecutive race in another close battle. He smoked to the 1st place finish almost a minute faster than last week at Lyndon with a time of 16:20. It was fast throughout with Rubio & Redeker hot on Downes's heels. That ties the battle between Rubio and Downes at 1-1 head to head this season. They put on a good show.

Jackson Comer 21:16 PR

David Seymour 21:42 PR

Evan Carr 21:50 PR

Mason Goeckel 27:32 PR

Photos by MHouse; Editing by Rylee Powell; Captions by Coach Joshua Gant

Posted at 04:11 PM in Cross Country | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jordyn Picolet Qualifies for State in Cross Country

Jordyn Picolet finished with a PR time of 21:37.88 to finish 8th in the girls race at Regionals in Riley County last Saturday. She will run in the 3A State Cross Country meet Saturday at 10 am at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence.

Photo by MHouse

Posted at 02:23 PM in Cross Country | Permalink | Comments (0)

Senior Night

Greg, Keely, and Charla Steere

Jason and Jeric Heath; Alica and Daniel Sherwood

Peyton and Stacey Tischhauser

Andy and Brandon Meadors, Missy Lathrop

Matt, Trey, and Laural Marshall

Hunter Marsh, Susan Franklin

Chris Myers, Kane Kormanik, Mary Myers

Hawk and Brenda French

Tim, Jagger, and Stacy Elstun

Tyson, Wyatt and BJ Buchman

Chris, Cooper, and Jamie Blackledge

Heath, Matthew, and Lori Maxson

Tim, Brodey, and Shilo King

Photos by Cora Noer; Editing by Calla Unruh and Jasmine Walker

Posted at 03:07 PM in Cross Country, Football, Seniors | Permalink | Comments (0)

Invitational Cross Country

Nineteen teams made up of 375 runners competed yesterday afternoon at Canning Creek Cove.

The girls HS race was something to see. Taylor Briggs from Chapman cruised to victory in a fast field. There may not have been a faster field in KS yesterday. CG's Jordyn Picolet finished with a PR in 17th place. Senior Keely Steere ran a really strong race as well.

Keely Steere

Jordyn Picolet, PR

Bree Hilton, set a PR
as did Cahaya Dody

Liz Mascote

Jeric Heath

Gavin Mills, PR 20:59 and Jesse Rodgers

Dryden Powell

Mason Goeckel

Photos by MHouse; Editing by Rylee Powell; Information provided by Coach Gant

Posted at 01:27 PM in Cross Country | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Orchard

Hot day at The Orchard for the Braves! Despite the heat, the team ran pretty well. The girls were short one for a team score due to injury, but the four who could compete ran well, all posting season best times and the two freshmen PRs (Bree Hilton and Jordyn Picolet). Three medaled: Bree Hilton 20th, Liz Mascote 17th, and Jordyn Picolet 6th.

The boys had five PRs (Jesse Lowmaster, Gavin Mills, Mason Goeckel, Creighton Simecka, and Zac McCra). Dryden Powell ran a good race and was particularly strong on the back half, giving him the opportunity to move up a handful of spots. Jesse Rodgers looked good today too.