Elizabeth Kettler

Moving into the high school level of cross country and making impact as a freshman hasn’t been too hard for Hiawatha Red Hawk, Elizabeth Kettler as she is helping led the Red Hawks to a strong girl’s cross country season.

Kettler continued her development this year with her first place of her high school career as she raced to a time of 21:30.84 (her best time this year) last week to win the Horton Invitational, winning by a little over 17 seconds. The freshman spear headed a great Red Hawk girls’ team performance as Hiawatha earned first place as a team at the meet.

Elizabeth started her high school cross country career with a fifth place finish at the Jeff West Invitational behind a time of 23:34.40, while the Red Hawks earned first as a team and Kettler had the best Red Hawk performance. The freshman has added sixth place finishes at both the Holton and Hiawatha Invites with times of 22:22.78 and 21:47, while Hiawatha finished second and first as a team at the meets, respectively.

She also competed against several top flight competitors from all across the State the annual Rim Rock competition in Lawrence and in the Blue varsity race placed 42^nd out of 256 runners with a time of 22:01.

The freshman has been making an impact on the cross country scene her first year at the high school level individually and with her team and looks to continue that as the season hits the back stretch with only a few meets left before Regionals.