The Sabetha boys and girls harriers took their team on the road on Thursday, Sept. 15, to Hiawatha, in a challenge of northeast Kansas regional runners. The meet hosted by the Red Hawks boasted schools from Sabetha, Atchison, ACCHS, Doniphan West, Falls City, Holton, Nemaha Central, Silver Lake, Riverside, Royal Valley and Pawnee City, Neb. It was a beautiful, clear day with warm temperatures, and the Jays took advantage of the conditions.

There were 42 runners in the varsity girls division and the Lady Jays continued to run with the front of the pack on this new outing, and sophomore Laura Metzger continued to lead her team on the course. Metzger ran the course in 22 minutes, 42 seconds to finish in the front of her teammates to capture fourth place overall. Freshman Jyllian Stapleton ran a strong race and crossed the finish line in 10th place with a time of 24 minutes, 18 seconds. Sophomore Lauren Bowles finished in 27th place, sophomore Ellyannah Clinton took 33rd and junior Emerson Montgomery finished 37th.

Junior Kalvin Evans and freshman Charlie Lukert have challenged and pushed each other thus far in the season, and can usually be found in the pack close to one another. It was no different at Hiawatha with Lukert edging out his running-mate to finish in fourth place overall with a time of 17 minutes, 48 seconds. Evans finished in fifth place overall with a time of 17 minutes, 56 seconds to help his team earn points. Freshmen Josh Enneking finish 25th with teammate Korbyn Stinnett taking 37th place. Sophomore Tabor Bachelor ran a strong race and finished in 47th place.

“We are working hard to get better,” said Head Coach Doug Leiker. “We need to work on our mental part of running and getting ready to run. Our next meet is Rim Rock Farm, which is a special meet for our runners.”

The Sabetha girls finished third overall and the boys finished fifth. Sabetha will travel to Lawrence to run at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24, to compete at Rim Rock.