Conditions were cool and damp Friday morning for the Wolfpack as they competed at the Boone Central Invite held at the Albion Country Club.
“I know it wasn’t a medaling day but I was very happy with how they did because the times show good things!” EPPJ Coach Tiffany Moser said.
In the girls 5K run, Hastings’ Sophia Reynolds crossed the finish line first with a time of 19:30.90, second was Melissa Gomez-Vasquet, Columbus, at 20:22.70.
The Wolfpack were led by sophomore Samantha Stuhr with a time of 25:12.90 good enough to finish 47th out of 77 runners.
Senior Emma Kinney finished the challenging course in a time of 31:53.00.
“Samantha was shooting to start around 26 minutes and she was well under that,” Moser said. “Emma had a nice strong finish.”
In the boys division, Austin Carrera, a senior from Hastings, won the race in a time of 15:53.50, more than 30 seconds ahead of runner-up Jacob Swanson of Nebraska Christian.
The Wolfpack’s two freshman runners showed well in their first competition. Evin Pelster clocked in at 20:26.40, teammate Matthew Kerkman finished with a time of 21:45.10.
“Evin didn’t get the school record but it’s a 20:12 (the record) and he did a 20:26,” Moser said.
“The boys got to experience their first meet and did not disappoint. We were up against bigger schools than us and that gave us great competition.”
