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Photo by David Pressgrove

Bailey Hellander, a Moffat County High School freshman, runs during the Oct. 10 Chris Severy Invitational in Aspen. Hellander finished with a time of 24:20.

Craig — Facing the toughest course it would see all season without two of its top runners, the Moffat County High School cross-country teams still were able to place well.

The boys and girls teams were able to run competitively despite injuries and hills during Saturday's Chris Severy Invitational in Aspen.

The girls team finished second, despite missing junior Nike Cleverly, while the boys squad picked up a third-place finish without sophomore Alfredo Lebron.

Coach Todd Trapp said the meet, while not Moffat County's best of the year, featured several strong performances.

"Some of the kids ran really well, but it was kind of an average meet for us," he said

There were other factors contributing to his team's performance, Trapp said.

"With having to get up at 4:30 in the morning and all the homecoming activities, I kind of expected us not to have our best meet," he said. "It wasn't our best meet of the year, but we still ran well."

Chris Zirkle, who finished fourth, and Alex McCoy, who finished eighth, again led Moffat County.

Corey Wojtkiewicz was able to offset the loss of Lebron by running one of his best races of the year, Trapp said.

"Corey kind of had a couple rough meets, but came back this weekend," he said. "He had a really good meet, and it's encouraging to know that he's coming back to make our team stronger."

The girls team received a boost from Bailey Hellander and Eryn Leonard, who finished ninth.

"Bailey usually paces with Nike," Trapp said. "I think she started off slow, but came back strong in the second half."

Maddy Jourgensen continued her dominating stretch, finishing second overall.

The course tended to slow down the entire team, Trapp said.

"This was the toughest course we will run over the course of year," Trapp said. "We don't do a ton of hills in practice, and it was a very hilly course."

The meet did help to highlight areas where the teams will need to improve before regionals Oct. 24 in Aspen.

"We saw some areas that we will need to improve on during the next couple of weeks before our regional meet," Trapp said. "Number one, we have to get our kids healthy and put them back into the mix."

If Moffat County has a healthy team, it should perform well during regionals, Trapp said.

"I think once regionals come around both teams should be ready to be back up and performing at a level we need to win the regional meet," he said. "We're going to get our kids back and healthy. We'll be ready for the push in the last three weeks of the season."