LAWRENCE — It was weather not fit for man or beast Saturday — unless you’re a cross country runner.
Iola High’s runners were among the more than 2,800 competitors at Saturday’s annual Rim Rock Cross Country Meet in Lawrence.
Heavy rains and a steady north wind made the course downright nasty, particularly by the end of the day, when many of the hills were slickened with mud, Iola head coach Marv Smith said.
The weather almost curtailed Iola’s runners from the start.
Race organizers decided to reverse the order of the races in order to give the varsity runners the best footing.
“We had to let Abigail Taylor and Megan Klubek out of the van so they could jog up the muddy road to the entrance while we continued to creep along the road,” Smith said. “The girls had no time to go over the course.”
The results were predictably tough, he noted.
Taylor finished 99th with a time of 18 minutes, 43 seconds in her 4k race.
“It was far from Abigail’s best race,” Smith said, noting she had defeated runners who placed 44th, 45th and 48th in races earlier this season.
“Abigail is accustomed to being in races where four our five girls move out quickly after the start, but this race had 40 to 50 moving out very quickly. She was about 100th after the mile and finished in that spot, passing some girls and getting passed by others.”
Klubek, who had been battling a cold, insisted on running, Smith said. She finished 136th with a time of 18:17.
“It was not a bad race for Megan under the conditions,” he said, noting it was Klubek’s first-ever varsity race.
KOHL ENDICOTT led the Mustangs with a time of 18:50 on the 5k route, good for 67th.
“It’s not really a bad race under the conditions,” Smith said.
Braden Plumlee finished 147th with a time of 20:02.
