Shouts of, “Go Coach! Go Mom!” and other encouragement could be heard by those driving around Berthoud High School (BHS) last Saturday. The Berthoud Fall Family Fun Run and the Garden City Cross Country Invite had a total of 350 people running around Bein Park fields and crossing the finish line at Max Marr Stadium.

Courtesy photo – The BHS Cross Country team hosted the Family Fun Run this past Saturday with large a number of participants out to support the team.

The day of jubilance started with the BHS cross country team cheering on the BHS soccer team who were running the course for fitness. The next group on the course was the community Fall Family Fun Run. Shouts by prep runners urging their coaches, parents and friends to, “Dig deep!” and “Push hard!” in their turn around the BHS fields.

Berthoud assistant cross country coach Luke Spitz was in a close contest for the lead with Fairview High School coach Sean Vandermosten. The two raced side-by-side until the final loop when the course came close to the team tents. Fairview and Berthoud athletes fervently cheered on their coaches, hoping to inspire them to victory. Vandermosten unleashed a kick at the end of the race that Spitz could not answer. Vandermosten finished the 2-mile course in 9:49 and Spitz set a time of 9:59 for his athletes to try to beat.

Noelle Green, a local master’s runner and BHS assistant coach Reagan Kappel came in next. Greene outkicked Kappel and recorded a time of 12:25. BHS volunteer coach Craig Greenslit finished after Kappel. The community race was a family affair for BHS Head Coach Jordan Jennings as his mother, wife, sister, daughter and infant son all participated in the race. Results of the Berthoud Fall Family Fun Run can be found online at RunSignUp.com or on Webscorer.com. Sponsors included Cambridge Animal Hospital, Christine Torres Re/Max, Jose Cabrera from Edward Jones Investments, Rise Artisan Bread, Christina Dabney of American Family Insurance, B-Town Automotive, APEX Shredding Inc., A & W, Above All Plumbing Heating and Air, Northern Colorado Credit Union, Origins Wine Bar & Wood Fired Pizza, Scheels of Colorado, Hays Market, Bradford’s, Sam’s Club, Alpha Graphics and The Berthoud Surveyor.

Fairview and BHS dominated the high school races. Jack Brown of Fairview beat his coach’s time by winning in a time of 9:48. The first Spartan runner was Scott Clark who completed the course in 10:09 for sixth place. Tate Bothun (10:25), Afton Cooper (10:27), Daniel Hatton (10:29), Aiden Malherbe (10:42) and Evan Torres (10:44) finished in the top 14 places. Fairview won the boys team competition and Berthoud took second.

BHS senior Daniel Hatton said, “My race went really well. I beat my track PR today. I think this is the best team that Berthoud’s ever had in cross. I think we’re going to do really well this year.”

Evan Torres commented, “Having our top six run sub 11 (minutes) at the start of the season is awesome. Overall, I think I should have pushed a little bit harder at the beginning of the race, but I think I did pretty good for the first race. Having that (state) experience and the team as close as it is, I’m stoked for this season.” Torres added when asked about returning to state for his fourth time, “It’s going to be fun, I can’t wait!”

Berthoud’s Jaycee Williams tested her fitness in the high school girls race winning easily in 11:32. Sydney Slauson placed fifth in 12:02. Fairview runners took the next 15 places with Emry Schwalm of Front Range Christian to break them up. Marie Cabrera (13:56), Jagoda Blumska (14:11), Megan Malherbe (14:55), Kara Wilson (15:06), Gabby Hernandez (16:39), Aleeya Riehl (16:42) and Maria Resaland (17:07), and Aiden Everson (20:06) rounded out the BHS team. Fairview won the girls team with BHS second.

Middle school races followed the high school races. The girls race was won by the little sister of BHS graduate Olivia Krueger who is now running at the University of Kansas. Sophia Krueger attends Walt Clark Middle School in Loveland. The eighth grader finished the course in 12:16, 44 seconds ahead of the second-place runner. Turner Middle School (TMS) seventh grader Lydia Cabrera was fourth in 13:00. Lily Hepp (15:49), Abby Brothers (16:50), England Carter (19:17), Audrey Bernard (19:53) and Alaska Tilghman (19:54) combined to place second as a team. Walt Clark won the girls’ team title.

David Roberts of Resurrection Christian Middle School won the boys middle school race in 11:17. Ethan Novak was the first TMS Dragon across the line in fourth place (12:07). Other TMS scorers include Rick O’Brien (13:45), Elam Hymel (14:04), Jeremiah Tevis (14:08), Owen Hofmeister (14:08), Brady Hepp (14:17) and Preston Carter (14:31). Walt Clark won the boys’ team title with Turner taking second place.

The biggest cheer of the day was reserved for Riley Bragg, a visually impaired runner from Windsor Middle School who ran the course with his guides., finishing in 36:31.