By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
With a time of 16 minutes 14.15 seconds, Burlington High School cross country runner Kit Kocha captured the best overall time at the Southern Lakes Conference Relays Saturday at Lutherdale Camp School at Elkhorn.
“She’s been consistently improving,” head coach Rick Koceja said.
Koceja noted that Kocha was in second place with about 1-1/2 miles to go. While going through the woods the second time around the course, she passed the leader.
“She ran a really smart race,” Koceja said.
Kocha’s time was 35 seconds faster than her time just one week earlier.
“The other one who ran really well was Brittany Ehlen,” Koceja said. “She came down about 40 seconds.”
In this event, two races are run for the boys and two for the girls. One race is for freshmen and sophomores, and the other race is for juniors and seniors. The top five times for each team from the two races are totaled together to determine team placement.
The girls races are 4,000 meters in length, while the boys are 5,000 meters.
Kocha, a junior, competed in the junior/senior race, while Ehlen, a sophomore ran in the freshmen/sophomore event.
Freshman Meta Ehlen had the third-fastest time for a Demon girl, completing the course in 17:02.
Kocha and the two Ehlens all medaled, as the top three runners in each grade level received medals.
Aleigha Barry turned in a time of 17:16, Marah Zinnen a time of 19:05 and Jacqueline Vergara a time of 20:19.
The Demon girls placed fourth overall in the relays, as did the Demon boys.
The girls team was just 32 seconds out of second place.
“So another close one,” Koceja noted.
The Demon boys were led by Mickael Pauly, who was clocked in 17:28.
Zach Wawrzyniakowski was a full minute back in 18:29, followed by Nathaniel Sibley in 18:48, Noah Strohm in 18:55, Ben Lois in 19:28 and Conor Schultz in 19:42.
“All the boys improved and ran as well as expected,” Koceja said.
No Demon boys medaled in the event.
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