Fremont County was the site of two cross country meets separated by just 72 hours over the weekend. On Thursday Riverton hosted the Berry Bryant / Kyle Johnson Memorial Invitational and Wyoming Indian was the site of the Chiefs National Invitational on Saturday.
Thursday’s event was attended by Riverton, Cody and Lander with each fielding complete boy’s and girl’s teams, and with additional runners from Wind River and St. Stephen’s.
Saturday’s meet was the largest so far in the Cowboy State. It was no surprise that Campbell County, Douglas, Evanston, Fort Washakie, Green River, Kelly Walsh, Lander, Lyman, Mountain View, Natrona County, Powell, Rawlins, Riverton, Rock Springs, St. Stephens, Star Valley, Thermopolis, Thunder Basin, Wind River, Worland and host Wyoming Indian, since it is the site of the state all-class cross-country championships in a little under two months.
The Riverton boys won their first meet of the season, edging Cody 37 to 38 on their home course to win the event. Paced by junior Kaden Chatfield in first place, with Jacob Castro, and Alexander Truax in the top 10 in sixth and 10th place the Wolverines ran well.
It may have been too much for Chatfield who was unbeaten in three races entering Saturday’s event at Wyoming Indian.
Chatfield held back a little on Thursday but it wasn’t enough to overcome a pair of talented runners in Owen Burnett of Mountain View and Habtamu Wetzel of Star Valley. Chatfield finished third on the Wyoming Indian course. Diego Lobatos of Lander placed sixth.
The memorial meet in Riverton celebrates the memory of a pair of outstanding Riverton distance runners in Berry Bryant and Kyle Johnson, both who meet tragic deaths while competing at the college level.
Bryant was a cross country runner and student at Northwest Community College in Powell when she was murdered by a fellow student on October 5, 1996.
Johnson was a member of the University of Wyoming cross country team and died when a drunk driver crossed the centerline of the highway, killing Johnson and seven other members of the UW team on September 16, 2001 17-miles south of Laramie.
Also killed in the head on collision, were Nick Schabron and Joshua Jones of Laramie, Morgan McLeland of Gillette, Shane Shatto of Douglas, Kevin Salverson of Cheyenne, Cody Brown of Hudson, Colorado, and Justin Lambert-Belanger of Timmons, Ontario.
Chiefs Nation Invitational
Boys Top 10: 1. Owen Burnett, MV 16:11.5, 2. Habtamu Wetzel, SV 16:14.9, 3. Kaden Chatfield, RIV 16:46.7, 4. Tristan Enders, NC 16:49.8, 5. Jase Burton, SV 16:55.7, 6. Diego Lobatos, LAN 17:01.2, 7. Paul Baxter, EVN 17:09.6, 8. Jack Diaz, NC 17:11.3, 9. Nathan Stevenson, GR 17:13.3, 10. Daniel Merritt, POW 17:14.2
Girls Top 10: 1. Ryann Smith, RAW 19:17.8, 2. Ally Wheeler, NC 19:41.3, 3. Nichole Clark, NC 20:08.8, 4. Ashely Gross, NC 20:15.0, 5. Kinley Cooper, POW 20:21.5, 6. Ameya Eddy, LAN 20:23.2, 7
. Karley Sabey, LYM 20:38.5, 8. Zena Tapia, WOR 20:43.3, 9. Jocelyn Capener, EVN 20:45.1, 10. Emma Longway, EVN 20:45.4
Berry Bryant / Kyle Johnson Memorial Meet
Boys Top 10: 1. Kaden Chatfield, RIV 17:07.30, 2. Charlie Hulbert, COD 17:11.83, 3. Diego Lobatos, LAN 17:14.70, 4. Ben Stewart, COD 18:11.03, 5. Riley Nielson, COD 18:16.18, 6. Jacob Castro, RIV 18:19.89, 7. Reed McFadden, LAN 18:25.75, 8. Gage Gose, LAN 18:49.15 9. Kyler Heil, RIV 18:53.71, 10. Alexander Truax, RIV 18:53.22
Boys Team Scores: 1. Riverton 37, 2. Cody 38, 3. Lander 45
Girls Top 10: 1. Taylen Stinson, COD 21:09.71, 2. Keira Jackson, COD 21:41.44, 3. Ava Stafford, COD 22:10.15, 4. Sunday Schuh, COD 22:32.02, 5. Blue Blackburn, LAN 22:33.35, 6. Elma Rudd, COD 23:19.91, 7. Darien Bell, LAN 23:39.26, 8. Kylee Silva, COD 24:11.22, 9. Marlee Johns, LAN 24:13.13, 10. Georgetta Moss, SS 24:14.80
Girls Team Scores: 1. Cody 16, 2. Lander 45, 3. Riverton 79