Perhaps it was out of eagerness to finally run a race, the morning air holding back the heat that later brought most afternoon activities to a sticky halt or a new course invented to fit the Wisner-Pilger Invite.
Whatever it was, coach Dan Fuhs couldn’t help but laugh with delight at the sight of seeing Jocelin Franco — a senior brand new to the sport — sprint to the first turn and hold the lead for just that frame of time.
“She definitely went out there a little too fast,” Fuhs said. “But that’s the fun part about these. You learn how to pace yourself.”
Thursday’s meet at Wisner River Park was all about giving a team of new runners or runners returning to the sport the chance to adapt themselves to the demands of the 5K race. Such went well as Fuhs said with solid marks and early improvements from both teams.
“Our girls team, we just had two girls today,” he said. “We might have a couple more at future meets, but it was both of their first 5Ks.”
And both girls are already resetting their bar. Fuhs said both Jocelin Franco and Fabiola Reyna bested their times from the 5K scrimmage in Madison two weeks earlier.
“The fun part of cross county, you’ve just got to beat yourself,” he said.
Alex Carnes did that to lead the boys team. Arriving with a personal best of 20:30.7, the senior crossed the line this year at 19:43.8.
“That was his first time going under 20 minutes,” Fuhs said. “And going under 20 this early in the season is really quality. I think he was about four minutes slower than that at this time last year.”
Fuhs said the more experience Carnes gained, the more he began to find the perfect balance between pushing himself and finding the right positioning.
“Today, he kind of stayed in his spot the whole race and just tried to pass people on the backstretch. It was a smart race,” he said.
Francisco Juan Lucas, running his first race since his freshman season, also had a solid performance with a time of 21:47.5.
Despite down on numbers on both sides, it was a great first-race result especially given all the changes to race day.
“This early in the season, I was just thrilled with these times,” Fuhs said.
Madison will race again on Friday at Norfolk Catholic.
Wisner-Pilger Invite Girls Team Scores: 1. LCC 22, 2. Elkhorn Valley 50, 3. Homer 55, 4. Wisner-Pilger 61, 5. Bancroft-Rosalie 80, 6. West Point-Beemer, 7. Winside 125, 8. Wakefield 134, East Butler 147, Cedar Bluffs 148, Tekemah-Herman 169.
Madison: 73. Jocelin Franco 29:55.1, 77. Fabiola Reyna 32:50.3.
Boys Team Scores: 1. Ponca 14, 2. Elkhorn Valley 48, 3. East Butler 80, 4. Homer 98, 5. Oakland-Craig 111, 6. Wakefield 120, 7. West Point-Beemer 124, 8. Wisner-Pilger 160, 9. Humphrey 163, 10. LCC 164, 11. TCNE 168, 12. Tekemah-Herman 177, 13. Cedar Bluffs 211, 14. Madison 219, 15. Bancroft-Rosalie 235, 16. Pender 248.
Madison: 31. Alex Carnes 19:43.8, 57. Francisco Juan Lucas 21:47.5, 81. Carrie Bernal 24:18.1, 82. Cesar Ramirez 24:56.1.
