He was the favorite last year and he won the Class B cross-country championship. This year, Doug Raymer was the favorite again, but this time it was in Class C. Although he finished the three mile course in 15:49.80, the competitive red head was not really happy with his time.
“I was trying to hit under 15:40,” he said. “But there was no one there to push me. I started out fast but no one there to push me at the end.”
Coach Steve Gideon said Raymer’s best competition was himself. “For Doug to finish his career like this without too much competition other than to be inward directed, I’m just proud of the fact that he worked really hard and finished strong.”
Sean Hansen of Darby finished in third place and was very pleased with his finish. Gideon said that Hansen had expected to finish around 10th and for him to come in third was tremendous.
“He worked really hard, had to come to practices on Monday after putting in long hard weekends working, and to finish third was great. It’s fun to coach kids who have an appreciation for that sort of punishment.”
Darby finished in second place, 11 points behind Culbertson. Gideon said Culbertson as virtually unbeatable because they were too strong and deep. A team must have at least five racers before their scores can be counted towards a team score. Tyler Morris, who finished in 22nd place, didn’t begin practicing until two weeks after the beginning of the season. Dawson Jakober and Jed Ruark finished 35th and 65th respectively.
“There is a rule at our school that we have to have six students in a sport,” said Gideon. “Without Dawson and Jed, we wouldn’t have had six, including Seanna (Abrahamsen). Dawson had a PR and Jed was right on and it really helped.”
Being the only girl out for cross-country was tough for Abrahamsen. Gideon said the other runners or he would train with her every day but it isn’t the same as having teammates to get her through the tough times. She developed shin splints this past week and sported bright pink bandages from her knees to her ankles. The freshman put it all on the line Saturday and finished in ninth place with a time of 20:30.50. The winner, Kelly McCafferty of Belt, finished in 19:17.20.