Worland XCountry readies for home meet

WORLAND - The Warrior and Lady Warrior cross-country runners have been gearing up for their first and only home race this Thursday and coach Tanya Kienlen has liked the focus and hard work her team has put in this week.

"We're excited to be home this week," said coach Kienlen. "We had a wonderful workout Monday, running on your home turf gives you something to defend and with the home crowd support it's going to be an advantage."

After the race, the course, which will be at Green Hills Golf Course, will be open to the public to run. The Reachard Race, named after former Worland High School cross-country coach Doug Reachard, will begin at 5:30 p.m. and cost $10, with fund going toward the WHS cross-country team for watches, extra money for meals, senior gift and motivational prizes.

Even coach Kienlen and the other school cross-country coaches will join in the race. "It is a lot of fun," said coach Kienlen. "You go from coaching the kids then right after they're coaching you and all of the words you've told them are coming right back at you. This is the fourth year of the Reachard Race and it's a fun event, we encourage everyone to run who are up for the challenge."

Last week the WHS runners were in Cody competing in the Fox and Hounds race. The format of the race gave slower runners an early start while the faster runners had a delayed start. The unique setup gave the Warriors and Lady Warriors a new perspective and was also fun, according to coach Kienlen. "They had a lot of fun. It was a great change in the run format for your third, fourth and fifth place runners who started in a better position."

"It was a different form of running because everyone had to use strategies they weren't familiar with, our one and two runners had to chase. While our third through fifth runners were maintaining a certain pace to keep their leads. It was a lot of fun and the kids had fun competing in that format and we approached it as a workout opportunity rather than strictly strategy," said coach Kienlen.

The Worland Invite will begin with the Worland Middle School cross-country runners at 3 p.m. followed by the High School at 4 p.m. and the Reachard Race at 5:30 p.m at the Green Hills Golf Course.

Results from the Fox and the Hounds race in Cody are as follows.

Girls

4, Kelli Holiday, 21:37.89.

14, Tatum Zimmerman, 24:17.20.

17, Paige Flock, 24:35.10.

18, Naibeth Ayungua, 24:40.51 18.

22, Elisa Ayungua, 25:48.95.

24, Kylie Woffinden, 26:24.86.

27, Jariah Cogdill, 28:32.09.

31, Felicity Loveland, 31:53.68.

32, Cailyn Deniz, 39:44.96.

Boys

5, Porter Harman, 18:07.

36, Jadon Swalstad, 18:11.0.

13, Nathaniel Nelson, 19:35.50.

14, Tristan Warren, 19:36.44.

22, Caleb Fraser, 20:21.8.

24, Rylan Mocko, 20:36.33.

27, Tucker Veal, 20:47.49.

28, Tyler Hasbany, 20:51.94.

29, Gabe Webster, 21:05.86.

32, Cody Newell, 21:47.83.

34, Fran De Miguel, 21:54.03.

35, Braydon Bond, 21:57.90.

37, Charles Rishel, 22:13.56.

39, Jacob Newell, 22:54.71.