Two weeks after running at Gans Creek in Columbia in the Fr. Tolton meet, the Fatima Comets returned on Saturday, with the girls earning 10th and the boys taking 11th in the Blue Division of the event.

“This was a great opportunity to compare our improvement in the last few weeks,” said Coach Marc Bridges. “The girls ran very well, with all of them running season-best times and a two running personal-bests.”

Brie Massman was Fatima’s top runner, finishing seventh in a field of 227 runners, with a personal-best 19:33, an improvement of 1:10 from two weeks ago on the same course. 

Heidi Struemph had a very good race, improving by :45 with a 40th-place time of 21:12. Melissa Verslues also did well, finishing :55 faster at 21:36 for 56th after and passing 47 runners from the 1000m to the 5000m mark. 

Kary Bock improved by :38, passing 49 runners to earn 137th in 23:58. Jaidyn McCann improved by 1:28 from the Fr. Tolton meet two weeks ago (208, 27:45), and Journey Markway ran a personal best, improving by 1:21 (219, 30:04).

“I think this race gives us confidence that we are heading in the right direction as we start the second half of the season,” said Bridges.

In the boys’ race, Michael Gabelsberger led the team with a season-best 16:46, an 18-second improvement for 18th place. 

Wyatt Dake was next, earning 62nd in 17:42 (PR by 30 seconds), Zach Kloeppel (79, PR 17:54, improving by 1:04 and passing 46 runners), Brady Horton matched his time from two weeks ago (117, 18:29), Zack Eisterhold (125, PR 18:35, improving by :33 and passing 51 runners),  Trenton Orscheln (145, 18:51, improving by 1:28), Evan Klouzek (250, 20:19, improving by :30), and Hank Kampeter (340, PR 24:58, improving by 1:17). 

“I feel like they are on the cusp of having a really good race,” said Bridges. “Things are moving in the right direction and our improvements will give us the motivation for a second-half push.”