The 2020 high school cross-country season began Thursday for the Greene County High School teams in Redfield at the West Central Valley meet. Coach Jeff Lamoureux saw the Rams finish third out of nine teams in the boys’ race, and ninth among 10 girls’ teams.

Coach Jeff Lamoureux said he was really pleased with the effort by all. “You never know how they are going to respond at the first meet of the year and our kids really performed well. We have some work to do, but extremely proud of the performance. We are looking forward to our home meet at Spring Lake next Thursday.”

Logan Woodruff ran the five kilometers (3.1 miles) in 18:30 to finish sixth overall. Luis Velasco was 11th in 19:35 and both medaled for finishing in the top 15. Jayden Carstensen was 16th in 19:58, followed by Ethan Frederick, 17th in 20:13, and Ethan Larsen 25th in 21:03. Those were the five point scorers for the Rams. Jax Carstensen was 26th in 21:04, and Dakota Mobley 37th in 21:56 to round out the seven varsity runners.

Greene County has only seven girls out for the sport. The team was led by Conner Allender, 30th in 26:35. Olivia Shannon was 39th in 28:43, followed by Makala Kafer, 40th in 28:45, Lucy Dudley, 53rd in 31:25, Autumn Stevens, 55th in 31:36, Sadie Wilson, 59th in 32:21, and Julia Follett, 67th in 37:37.

Kuemper Catholic (Carroll) won the boys’ team title with 52 points, followed by Nodaway Valley at 54, the Rams with 75, Grandview Christian (Des Moines) 115, CAM (Anita) 141, I-35 (Truro) 152, Ankeny Christian Academy 180, West Central Valley 183, and Saydel (Des Moines) 199.

Nodaway Valley scored 48 to win the girls’ crown with 55 for Audubon, 100 by Kuemper Catholic, 104 from CAM, 116 by WCV, 146 for Extra-Elk Horn-Kimballton, 154 for Grandview Christian, Southwest Valley (Corning) 182, Greene County 199, and Saydel 229.

Next up for Greene County is the one home meet of the season on Sept. 10 at Spring Lake State Park northwest of Grand Junction.