Sports Roundup: Runners test competition at invitational

Cross-country

With league play on hold for the week, the Boulder City girls and boys cross-country programs took part in the Falcon Invitational this past weekend at Foothill High School, a two-part race separated into a freshman-sophomore pool and a junior-senior pool filled with the state's toughest competition.

Jumping up in classification the Eagles squared off against Division I powers Green Valley, Basic, Coronado and host Foothill Saturday morning, along with currently Division I-A power Pahrump Valley and out-of-country opponent the Australian Select. For the events, the girls tied for 13th in the junior-senior race and tied for 15th in the freshman-sophomore race, while the boys tied for 20th in both races.

"Running in the Falcon Invitational is something to look forward to every year," sophomore Dawsen Goodfellow said. "It's a big event and fun course to run so its exciting, but also you have to have a completely different mindset when you're competing there. There's a lot more competition running in the event, a lot of kids that will pass you, a lot of kids you will pass. Just maintaining where you are and not getting caught up in the moment is big for us."

While the boys would fail to place a runner within the top 25 of either race as Division I runners filled the bracket, the girls, behind sophomore lead runner Sierra Selinger, made a statement in the freshman-sophomore race. Placing sixth with a time of 21:25.0, Selinger was the second Division I-A runner to complete the race behind Faith Lutheran's Kendall Larson and just one of five small-school athletes to crack the top 25 of the event.

"Sierra had a great race and hung with most of her important competition in the Division I-A throughout most of the race, before getting edged by the Faith Lutheran runner in the end," said coach Canaan Petersen. "Both Sierra and the girl from Faith Lutheran (Larson) are sophomores so it will be fun to watch them both compete for the region championship. Other girls had great races, but between injury and sickness, many did not post their best times."

"The guys also had an OK race and times, but after an intense week of workouts, I was not expecting personal records by everyone," Petersen added. "After running with most of our competition during the Falcon Invitational, most of the boys now understand the task before them in order to find success in late October."

The cross-country programs will continue their season Oct. 10 at Veterans Memorial Park, where they'll take on Division III opponents Agassi Prep, Lake Mead, Lincoln County and The Meadows.

Soccer

While the girls (1-4 overall record) and boys (0-7 overall record) soccer programs are currently struggling, the outlook for each team this young in the season remains positive.

Heading into a favorable matchup with Del Sol High School (0-5 overall record) this Tuesday, the Lady Eagles behind senior strikers Oshauna Remy and Lauren Mullins have a solid opportunity to pick up their second victory of the season, after dropping a pair of contest this past week to Southeast Career Technical Academy 0-9 and Desert Pines 0-3.

Continuing to fight hard and remain in good spirits has been head coach Duncan Stark's message to the girls this season and, at times, the team has looked solid in brief stretches of play.

While they did suffer a lopsided loss to the Roadrunners, who have a tendency to hang multiple goals on opponents, the Lady Eagles looked competitive against Division I-A Sunrise second-seed Desert Pines in their 0-3 loss to the Jaguars.

With Chaparral and Del Sol in rebuilding years, the Lady Eagles, who currently sit in sixth place within the division, have an opportunity to add a few more victories, with both teams on the schedule for three more matches.

For the boys, it been another rebuilding season now under first-year coach Chad Smith. Dropping favorable matchups early to Adelson School and Pahrump Valley 2-1, the Eagles have shown life throughout certain stretches.

After exploding for three goals against top-ranked conference opponent Chaparral last week, in which they allowed eight goals themselves, the boys' limited the fourth-ranked Southeast Career Technical Academy to just three goals Sept. 24, before allowing seven goals Monday to third-ranked Desert Pines. A solid team at times, if the Eagles, lead by senior Monte Morris and sophomore John and Alex Krausman, can get a more consistent effort on the defensive end, they might be able to come away with a victory this season.

Both the girls and boys will resume their regular seasons Tuesday at home against Del Sol, before traveling to Virgin Valley on Oct. 8.

Contact Robert Vendettoli at BCRsports@gmail.com.