Kadet’s starring debut continues

In what’s already been a memorable debut season, Air Academy junior Allie McLaughlin finished just one second away from setting a course record at the Kadet Invitational on Friday afternoon.

McLaughlin won the girls Division I race in 18:59:69, just missing the 1987 record set by Liberty’s Sarah Schwald at District 20 Soccer Stadium, according to Kadets coach Glenn Peterson.

It was her second win in four meets this season after two straight runner-up finishes in her first year running competitively.

“Today was so much fun,” she said. “This was a big meet for our team, and it felt really great to run on our home course where we’ve spent so much time practicing.”

The Kadets girls finished third in Division I, relying on McLaughlin and a ninth-place finish by Liz Slamkowski.

“We’re just going to keep improving,” Peterson said.

Summit won the Division I team race ahead of Doherty, led by Lynnea Sjoerdsma, who finished fourth (20:19:60).

Kaitlin Hanenburg (19:31:98) and Kelsey Brown (21:06:80) finished second and sixth, respectively, to lead The Classical Academy to fourth.

Rocky Ford dominated the boys Division I race with four finishers in the top 20, including winner Victor Montoya (17:09:25). TCA’s Trevor Waliszewski finished second, completing the 3.1-mile course in 17:36:60.

The Coronado boys led the area with a fourth-place finish.

“We had a really good race today,” said Coronado assistant Mark Weeks. “It was great to be back on dirt again after the meet at Cherry Creek.”

Adam Dickerson (18:11:00) placed eighth for the Kadets, leading the team to a fifth place finish.

In the Division II boys race, Ridge View Academy’s six top 20 finishers propelled it to first place. Steve Stoot of Fountain Valley won the individual race in 17:09.30.

Several area schools, including Coronado and Air Academy, had junior varsity teams entered in Division II. The Peak to Peak girls had five top 20 finishers to cruise to the team title.

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