Friday was a great day for running and competitors in the Boone Central Individual Invitational cross country meet took full advantage.
Leading the way was Cardinal senior Kevin Carder, who broke the all-time Albion/Boone Central record in the boys 5,000-meter race. A pair of remarkable Card freshmen also established school marks – Cassidy Pribnow equaling the Boone Central girls record and Calvin Koziol setting a new boys frosh standard.
Along with local runners, Holy Family soph Andrea Weeder, the defending Class D state champion, broke the course record over the Albion Country Club layout and senior Kevin Weeder, also a defending state champ, won a scintillating duel with Carder to claim top spot in the boys senior division.
Whew!
“This had to be one of the best days we’ve ever had in our long cross country history!” exclaimed Boone Central Coach Tom Dickey. “The day was nearly perfect – maybe the Moon was in the 7th house and Jupiter aligned with Mars! No wind, temperatures not too warm or too chilly.
“The competition was also perfect – not a herd of runners, but extremely fast and in the right positions. I really never dreamed of setting or tieing two school records in one day, let alone adding three class records – it was simply amazing!”
Dickey felt just about all Cardinal runners gave superlative efforts Friday.
“Cassidy’s strategy was simple – try to beat Holy Family’s third runner for the first time this year,” Dickey explained. “I didn’t realize it would take 16:23 to do it!
“Cassidy stayed on a pace that seemed comfortable and she actually came very close to their second runner. She couldn’t believe she could run as fast as Ashlynn Bader – this is a good lesson for her to begin believing in her incredible talent and abilities.
“Kevin did exactly what he planned – go out hard and try to gap Kevin Weeder,” Dickey added. “He did just that, but Weeder closed the gap and the two dueled like the champions they are. The race was up for grabs, but Weeder had just a bit more speed in the final 50 meters.
“Kevin broke the record held by Ken Beister since 1988, set on our old course. I really didn’t think that record would be broken. Ken was an amazing runner, with more speed than Kevin, but 5,000 meters is a long race and Kevin proved that speed endurance is vital.
“I’m just very pleased with this record because Kevin did most of the pacemaking – this was really his time!
“Our other record came from freshman prodigy Calvin Koziol, who broke Alex Wolf’s 2002 mark with a 17:03,” praised Dickey. “Calvin’s extreme competitiveness got him this mark. He was actually passed in the final meters and dove at the line to try and get that place back!
“Almost forgotten among all the records were our other medal winners. Brody Kelley did a wonderful job winning the sophomore division. He’s still recovering from illness, so it was great to see him back in our top group of runners and really competing.
“Jacob Lindgren cut over 40 seconds off his previous best to place second in the junior division and his sister, Cassie, ran her best race to date, placing fifth in the freshman division.
“Our other runners also recorded impressive personal bests,” Dickey noted. “Bryce Schilousky, our team leader, knocked 30 seconds off his PB. Cody Mangus lopped nearly a minute off his, Luke Schmitz ran 1:20 faster and Alec Wynn made his course debut a fast one.
“I think we’re heading in the right direction. We’ve got to continue our improvement if we want to get teams and individuals to state – our district meet will be loaded with competition!”
Complete Results in Print & Online Editions of Albion News.
