Cross Country: Douglas opens season at class races

The Douglas High Cross Country team opened its season Friday with its traditional Lampe Park Class Races.

While many Northern Nevada schools (19 in all) attended with more than 300 runners participating, the normal course was altered to 2.5 miles this year to accommodate the carnival at the park the same weekend.

Organizers said this year's event ranked among the biggest in the history of the season-opening race.

"Class races are a fun event because it is a flat and fast course," Douglas co-coach Marc Walling said. "It is shorter than most of our races throughout the year, so it is a great way to start the season off."

Under the class format, four races are conducted, one with all seniors, one with all junior and so on.

Douglas junior Andrew Cobourn had a breakout day, posting the top overall time at 13 minutes, 45 seconds.

Freshman Brandon Pankey was Douglas second-best finisher, completing the course in 15:45 and taking third in the freshman race.

Aside from Pankey, Douglas had five boys finish in the top 15 of the freshman race.

Cole Peck was sixth (16:17), Jeff Williams was seventh (16:23), Josh Cassity was eighth (16:54), Lane Smith was 13th (17:32) and Parker Dixon was 15th (17:38).

"That was very exciting," Walling said.

Tanner DeGiovanni was 12th in the junior race with a time of 15:50. Junior Caymen Hoshizaki and senior Daniel Lundgreen each took 16th in their respective races. Junior Billy Rubino had a strong race with a time of 17:24.

Sadie Gatelum led the Tiger girls, taking second among junior girls with a time of 16:41.Bre Chabot was Douglas' second-fastest girl, posting a time of 18:14.

"All of our runners ran very well," Walling said. "We have a great group of kids this year. It was fun to watch them work hard in the off-season and the first few weeks of school, but the first race is definitely exciting.

"For some of our runners, the class races are the first long distance race they've run so it is fun to see them finish and talk about being excited for the next one."

Sierra Lutheran also had a strong showing at the meet, particularly in the juniors race, where Nathanael Williams was second (13:50) and John McRae was third (14:44). Anthony Brewer was 13th (16:03) and Nathan Conover was ninth in the senior race with a time of 15:50. Nick DePaoli was 13th among seniors with a time of 16:22.