Ramiro Santana and Amanda Basham were named the outstanding runners of the year for the boys and girls cross-country teams at the teams’ awards potluck Tuesday, Nov. 13, at the high school cafeteria.
Santana, a senior, led the boys all year, finishing with a third-place team finish at the Val-Co district meet. He qualified for the state meet as an individual, along with teammates Brinden Sanders and Jayce Calhoon.
Basham, a senior in her first year of cross-country, led the girls team to its first district championship in 14 years and a berth in the state championships, where she earned all-state honorable mention honors with a 24th-place finish. She was the Val-Co district champion, the Huskies’ first since the early 1990s, Coach Billy Snow said.
The former Iron Man Award (now renamed the Iron Person Award, Snow said), which goes to the runner(s) who make(s) the most practices, went to five who did not miss a practice during the season: Santana, Byron Sanders, Rob Callagan, Jenna Kistner and Olivia Johnson.
Johnson and Carissa Swanson, both freshmen, were named most inspirational runners by a team vote, Snow said.
The Will to Win Award went to Sanders, a sophomore, and Callagan, a junior.
Most improved was Kistner, the third freshman on the girls varsity squad this year.
Rookie runners of the year were seniors Basham and Brinden Sanders.
“We had a lot of rookies this year,” Snow said. “Half the (girls) team were rookies.”
Four-year letter winners were team captains Dallin Holden and Santana, and Ashley Danielson, all seniors. Snow noted that Danielson isn’t given to much talk, “but she leads by example.”
Callagan received his third letter.
Second-year letters went to sophomore Jill Mahler, senior Land Florek and junior Josh Rice.
Lettering for the first time for the girls were Basham, senior Justine Calhoon, Johnson, Kistner and Swanson.
“Amanda had a great season,” Snow said. “She made the most out of her only season in cross-country.”
First-year letters for the boys went to Brinden Sanders, sophomore Jayce Calhoon, junior Nikki Smith, sophomore Dustin Collman and Byron Sanders, who made “a huge jump” from his freshman year, cutting roughly two minutes off his times for the same races from 2006 to 2007.
“The reason is he put in the time during the summer,” Snow said.