Rockford’s LaCoste, Hirv medal at Newman XC Invite

Staff Report

MASON CITY — Rockford juniors Sheridan LaCoste and Katie Hirv both medaled at the Newman Cross Country Invitational held at Mercy Medical on Tuesday.

LaCoste placed fourth with a time of 20 minutes and 38 seconds; first-year runner Hirv was 18th with a time of 21:57.

“Sheridan is running two minutes faster than what she was running last year at this time,” Rockford coach Andy Roth said. “All the hard work, training, and camps she participated in the past year are definitely paying off.”

Roth also was impressed with Hirv medaling in her first XC race.

“(It’s) a huge accomplishment,” Roth said.

With Olivia Harden and Kelsey Anderson also completing the 5K course for Rockford, the Lady Warriors didn’t have enough runners to qualify for a team score.

Rockford’s boys placed 14th as a team with sophomore Jacob Stokes leading the way with a 74th-place time of 21:00. Warrior teammate Andrew Longcor was 10 seconds behind in 77th.

“The boys team all finished closely with each other,” Roth said. “This has been consistent with our practices with them changing places daily.

“I think we can get all of their times below 20 minutes before the end of the season with a lot of hard work and dedication.”

Both Rockford squads will be back in action today at the Charles City Invitational held at Wildwood Municipal Golf Course.

“We have our starting point for the season, and now we know how much harder we are going to have to work to run our very best,” Roth said.