The Laughlin High School Cross-Country teams opened the 2005 season at the Grizzly Jamboree in Las Vegas on Saturday at Spring Valley High School. The boys team kicked off the season with an impressive 3rd place finish and were honored with the New Comer Award at the meet.
The Grizzly Jamboree differs from typical cross-country events in that it is set up in a relay format. Members of each high school team are broken up into 2 man relay teams. Each runner on the relay team runs two 1.5 mile segments for a total race distance of 6 miles for each pair. Team scores are tallied by adding the finishing position of your first 3 pairs.
The relay team of Scott Eubanks and Derek Fajardo led the Cougars with an outstanding 2nd place overall finish in a time of 33:45. Eubanks was able to overtake 2 competitors in the final 1/2 mile of the race to secure the 2nd place position. Completing the team scoring for the Cougar squad was a 16th place finish by Julian Estrada and Devin Tilley in 41:09 and a 20th place finish by Shaun Rees and Kyle Winters in 42:53. The relay team of Josh Fajardo and Steven Koonce finished 23rd and Richard Swartz participated on a relay team which finished 34th.
The Laughlin boys team finished 3rd out of the 9 team field with a score of 33 points behind 4A teams from Shadow Ridge and Palo Verde High Schools. Other schools participating included Bonanza, Centennial, Spring Valley, Western, Pahrump, and Faith Lutheran High Schools.
The Laughlin girls had 2 relay teams entered with Freshman Alexandra Condray part of the 14th place team and the relay pair of Chynna Yates and Gracie Geremia finishing 17th. The girls team finished 6th overall.
Quotes from Coach Lori Petrik: “I’m extremely pleased with how the kids went out and competed today. This was a great way for our boys to open up the season. For a school our size (1A) to finish 3rd here in a field of predominantly 4A schools, that’s very exciting. I think the team of Scott and Derek turned some heads today. Scott is going to be a very tough competitor. He does not like to lose and that makes him very fun to watch. As I’ve said before, if we can keep these boys healthy and eligible, they are going to do some good things this year.”
The Cougars will next compete at the Lake Mead Invitational in Boulder City on September 3rd.
