Prep notebook: High school runners compete at U20 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships
Drever and Brunner are slated to race at Nike Outdoor Nationals this Saturday and Sunday
Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
Lindsey Whitton and Milaina Almonte placed 18th and 28th, respectively, for Team USA at the U20 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships last weekend in Innsbruck, Austria. Whitton and Almonte were the second and third-fastest Americans in the 48-athlete international field.
Whitton completed the 7.4-kilometer course, which included 374 meters of ascent, in a time of 36 minutes, 45 seconds, just 29-seconds behind Samantha Wood, a freshman at Boise State University. Almonte finished in 38:04 as Great Britain’s Rebecca Flaherty (33:20) took the individual win.
Team USA finished fifth in the female junior team scoring, compiled using each nations’ top-three finishers, with 62 points. Great Britain (10), France (27) and Spain (27) made up the podium.
Drever and Brunner primed for distance races at Nike Outdoor Nationals
Eagle Valley’s Jake Drever and Battle Mountain’s Will Brunner are at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, this weekend competing at Nike Outdoor Nationals (NON), one of a handful of high school national track and field meets happening this weekend.
Drever, an incoming freshman at Boise State University, is slated to run the 2-mile and Brunner, who will be a senior at Battle Mountain next fall, is entered in both the mile and the 2-mile. The 2-mile is scheduled for Saturday at 8:01 p.m. PST and the mile is at 1:29 p.m. PST on Sunday. A free livestream is available on nikeoutdoornationals.runnerspace.com.
Support Local Journalism
Summit’s Josh Shriver is in Friday night’s 5,000-meter run.
Von Stralendorff will continue basketball career at Rocky Mountain College
Eagle Valley High School’s Nikko Von Stralendorff will continue his basketball career at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana. The future Battlin’ Bear will compete for the NAIA school in the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
“Nikko is a dedicated hard worker that has continued to improve his game each year,” Rocky Mountain College coach Bill Dreikosen stated in a press release on June 2.
“You can feel the positive energy he brings to the room just by being around him. He is a servant leader that we believe will come in and make his team better daily. We look forward to having him in our program.”
Von Stralendorff averaged 11 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game during his senior year, earning all-conference honors. A versatile 6-foot-5-inch wing with both a lethal long-range pull-up game and post-up abilities, Von Stralendorff’s impact went far beyond the stat sheet during his time at Eagle Valley. During the 2021-22 season, he led the Devils to an 18-5 record, share of the league crown and a first-round bye in the 4A state tournament.
“I picked Rocky because I really liked Coach Dreikosen and feel like I can be very successful athletically and academically here,” Von Stralendorff, who plans to study health and human performance, stated.
Kelsey inducted in academic honor societies
Gigi Kelsey, a Vail Mountain School and Ski and Snowboard Club Vail alumna and rising senior Alpine skier and tennis player at Saint Michaels college, earned induction into three honor societies, per a Saint Michaels press release. Kelsey was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and largest academic honor society, Chi Alpha Sigma (National College Athlete Honor Society) and Psi Chi (psychology).
