Herring first, Cross Country team runners up

The Saratoga High School cross country team traveled to Sheridan over the weekend for the state finals, with one runner taking the title of state champion, and several others earning the title of all-state champion.

Overall, the team took second at state finals, earning a total of 44 points, behind Wyoming Indian who claimed their tenth title in 11 years with their score of 27. Sundance, in third, was a fair distance off with 75 points.

Sophomore Jarom Herring, running for Saratoga, took first place in the 2A division, running the 5-Kilometer run in a time of 17:50.12, a full 2 seconds ahead of the second place finisher from Sundance.

For the Lady Panthers, senior Ashlynn Johnson took fifth place in the 5K with her time of 21:59.90. Johnston was the only Lady Panther competing at the high school level for the Saratoga team this year. Johnson competed against 52 other competitors in her event.

For the boys team, Joey Gonzalez, a sophomore, ran the 5K in 18:19.69, good for seventh place. Gonzalez also earned All-State honors for his performance in the field of 71 runners.

Finishing out the season, Saratoga's other runners turned in strong performances, with Gavin Bartlett taking 18th place, Gage Bartlett coming in hot on his heels in 20th, and Aaron Detterer and Ben Fairbanks rounding out the top 30 with 26th and 30th place finishes respectively. Sophomore Jeremiah Debar rounded out the team's performance with his 45th place score.

"(I am) awfully proud of the effort this group of athletes put forth this season and how hard they competed this past weekend," the team's coach, Rex Hohnholt said in an email. "It is an absolute pleasure working with student athletes that are as much fun to be around off the course as it is on."