Jimmies ready to run

For the last four seasons, the Jimmie women’s cross country team has ended the season with an All-American.

If Aleona Reyes stays healthy, the streak will likely extend to five.

The junior from Belen, New Mexico, placed 12th out of 323 runners at nationals last fall and leads the Jimmies into today’s season-opening 4K run in Valley City.

“It is exciting to have a returning NAIA All-American,” said JC women’s coach Jim Clark, who is beginning his 35th season at Jamestown College. “Between Aleona and Katie Conlon, (we’ve) had an All-American in cross country four straight years.”

Reyes ran her two top times in the final two meets last season. The Jimmies did lose some key team members to graduation in all-conference performer Madey Hornung along with Cambrya Belter and Mallory Souder.

Bernie Bachel, Andrea Markwart, former Blue Jay Ashley Mueller and Miranda Charley will be counted on to pick up the slack.

“It appears that (they) all had much better summers than last year,” Clark said. “We will be counting on them to fill the void. They are good kids who are excited about the season.”

The roster also has been padded by six freshmen: Katie Blais, Jamestown’s Biz Entzel, Samantha Goff, McKenna Hauschild, Natalie Ley and Sheyenne Stewart.

“It is too early to tell where our six freshmen will fit in, but the first few days of practice have been terrific,” Clark said. “We have some young ladies who are serious about running and fun to be around.”

The Jimmie men will not run in today’s meet in Valley City, which is a 1,000 meters shorter than normal. They’ll run for the first time Sept. 14 in Minot. The women will use today’s meet as an intense practice, of sorts.

“The Valley City meet will be more of a time trial since we have only been together for a week,” Clark said. “But it should be a good team builder and should help our new runners to get a competition under their belts sooner rather than later.”

Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at dselvig@jamestownsun.com

Tags: sports, jimmies, track