On Thursday, Oct. 13th, the Lake Tahoe School cross-country team competed at the Tah-Neva Middle School Cross Country Championship meet at the Kahle Park Cross Country Course, South Lake Tahoe. Two courses were set for the championships, with the 5th-7th grade division covering 2.2 miles and the 8th grade division running 2.6 miles. The championship meet was comprised of 18 schools competing from areas in the Tahoe basin, including Reno, Lake Tahoe, Douglas County, and Carson City.

This was our largest Bobcat team ever with 54 students competing this fall. After sweeping championships with all four team titles last year — 5-7th grade boys, 5-7th grade girls, 8th grade boys, and 8th grade girls – the Bobcat team once again set out to dominate the championship meet this year and bring home more team championships. This was achieved by winning the 5-7th grade boys division, the 5-7th grade girls division, and the 8th grade girls division. There were also a number of outstanding individual results at championships for the Bobcats.

The 8th grade girls team raced well over the 2.6 mile course and won our schools second ever team championship for the 8th grade girls division. Lily Cooper was our lead girl and finished 7th. Lily had a wonderful season winning three regular season races before championships. Carolina Avakemian, a 7th grader who moved up a division to help the team compete for a championship, was our next Bobcat finishing 19th. Closely followed by Kenzie Wolfe in 20th. This was Kenzie’s best race and result of the season. Rounding out the team was Makenna Larkins in 22nd and Avery O’Donnell 24th.

The 7th grade boys team had the biggest squad on our Bobcat team with 27 runners qualifying for championships. Brooks Erikson was the leader of this team and had a perfect season winning every regular season and championships. In the championship race, we had four more Bobcats finish in the top 11 with Lachlan McConnon finishing 2nd, Noah Harssema 6th, Oliver Pietzke 8th, and Sundance Jennings 11th. In the championship race Jenner Piro finished 19th, Miles Cooper 26th, and Brayden Davis 30th respectively. In the 5-7th grade boys open race, the Bobcats also raced extremely well and had six runners in the top 11 – Fletcher Hardie 2nd, Dean Leahy 4th, Max Adams 5th, Nate Lager 9th, Zak Weimer 10th, and Sebastian Simms 11th.

For the 7th grade girls, they had a fantastic season and were clearly the team to beat all year. Shelby Erikson led them all season long with hard work and great results. Shelby won three regular season races and finished 2nd in the individual girls championship. Not far behind her was Georgia McLeod in 9th place. Gisele Francl saved her best run of the season for championships and finished 13th. Rounding out the team to help win the championship title for our girls was Elisabeth Higginbotham in 15th, Angie Alpers 23rd, Darya Kuznetsova 33rd, Amelia Boe 46th, and Larkin Schuessler 50th. In the open race for the girls, Grace Patridge capped a great season by finishing 4th. Closely followed by Chloe Bonner 8th, Ocean Davison 10th, and Lara Ellam 22nd.

In the 8th grade boys race, Logan Rive led the way and finished 22nd. Joining Logan on the team was Jack O’Donnell finishing 31st, Anthony Donahue closely followed in 39th, Ross Hochberg 44th, Finn Capreedy 51st, and Micah Bergstrom 58th.

Coach Kris Nugent shared, “This was a fantastic season for our Bobcat team. To win three team championships was amazing. A big shout out to our team leaders — Brooks Erikson won every race this season. Brooks is only a 5th grader and has a big future in running. Shelby Erikson and Lily Cooper also won three races this season too and set the tone at every practice with their dedication and leadership.” Coach Nugent added, “I’m so proud of this team. The team culture was so impressive all year. They pushed each other at every practice to get better and I’m so happy to see them enjoy success as a team. I’ll really miss our 8th grade runners. I’ve coached many of them for many, many years and their leadership and hard work will be dearly missed.”