LRC Racing “Fishing” for State Title
LRC Racing took its most competitive team to-date to the USATF Club XC Championships this past weekend, but before we get to that, Johnny Rutford boosted himself to 4th on the team’s Top 10 list for the marathon by running a time of 2:32:36 on Sunday, December 4th.
Then, to recap LRC Racing’s history at the USATF Club XC level, we first fielded a team at the 2014 championships in Bethlethem, PA. The team finished 41/68 teams (60th percentile, 33:31.50 and 240th place averages), with the top finisher in 221st place. Then in 2015, the team returned to the championships in San Francisco, CA, finishing 39/59 (66th percentile, 33:56 and 232nd place averages), with the top finisher in 154th place.
Now fast forward to the 2016 championships in Tallahasse, FL where LRC Racing was finally able to send a complete team of seven runners to the race. Nolan Border led the team in a time of 32:16, while Michael Rathje (32:53), Ryan Dostal (33:17) and Cole Marolf (33:34) all finished within 45 seconds of each other. Masters runner, Ryan Regnier, rounded out the scoring team with a time of 34:41, while Andrew Jacob (34:56) and Trevor Vidlak (35:02) were not far behind. When all was said and done, the team had its best finish in club history (23/36 or 64th percentile), with Nolan Border having the highest finish of anyone in team history (128th). For the third straight year, LRC Racing was the first team from Nebraska.
In addition, had Ryan Regnier ran the masters race, his time would have place him 41st overall! It was a great race and another successful year for LRC Racing on the USATF level! We’ll see you in 2017!