CHADRON – It’s a special day when all the cross-country athletes run their best times in a race and that’s what happened on Friday in Chadron.  

Each runner ran a personal best. Maci Lyons led the way with a runner-up finish in the girls’ race in a time of 11 minutes, 15 seconds, bettering her all-time best by over a minute.

Eighth-grader Hazel Gaukel got on the podium again in seventh place with an amazing improvement of over a minute also. She ran the course in 12:19.

Aalyiah Pavone was the third runner for the middle school girls placing 22nd out of 60 runners in an improved time of 14:07. That was her best 3K time by 40 seconds.

Avery Johnson rounded out the girls in 16:11, bettering her time by over 15 seconds.  

The girls’ team placed fifth out of the 10 teams running and were only three points out of finishing in third.

The boys had an outstanding day also. High schooler Nathaniel Fadness ran his second 5K race of the year in 24:58, improving his time by over a minute also.

The improvements of the day though belonged to the middle school boys. Paul Kruse ran the 3K course in 12:59. This was a three-minute improvement from the first 3K of the year. He was 42nd out of the 80-runner race and was the third fastest 6th grader in the race.

Cooper Skeen ran 14:16 to place 57th out of 80. His time was over a minute faster also.

The Tigers cross-country teams run in Alliance on Saturday this week.