Twitter
Facebook
by Robert Baldwin
contributing writer
Griffen Parsells has a plan.
“I want to win the European championships in Baumholder and I want to set the record doing it,” the Kaiserslautern junior said after winning the Ramstein cross country meet at Seewoog on Saturday. Parsells used his long, loping stride to clock a 16:50 on the wet course, outlasting former Kaiserslautern teammate and current Ramstein runner Conner Mackie. Parsells and Mackie have the two top times in Europe this fall. Parsells’ personal best is 16:34 and the European record he has in his sights is 16:15.
Ramstein’s Gideon Zaugg shattered his personal record and finished sixth. Teammate Ben Brewster finished eighth with his personal best.
In the girl’s division, there were two classes – McKinley Fielding and everyone else. The Stuttgart junior led from start to finish and demolished the course record by 30 seconds, finishing a minute and a half ahead of the pack. Fielding has a legitimate chance at breaking the European record at Baumholder on October 19. Ramstein’s Nadia Rahman took fourth and Kaiserslautern’s Piper Parsells finished ninth.
Baumholder’s top performers were Jacob Cruz in the boys’ and Madison Brech, and Ashley Delgado in the girls’.
Both Stuttgart’s boys and girls took six of the top ten spots for the team titles. Wiesbaden was second in girls followed by Ramstein and Kaiserslautern, who were separated by one point, then Baumholder. Ramstein and Kaiserslautern were second and third in the boys, Baumholder seventh.
All teams are off this weekend. Kaiserslautern hosts a contest involving Baumholder next Saturday while Ramstein is at Stuttgart. It will be the final tune up before the European championships.
