Ray Hamill/HumboldtSpoerts.com – Eureka’s Miriam Mende in action earlier this season.

By Ray Hamill — The Eureka cross country team is coming off a strong showing at the Bill Springhorn Classic in Redding last weekend, as the Loggers continue to build toward the H-DNL championships later in the season.

The Eureka girls placed fifth as a team at the event despite being shorthanded, with three of their runners medalling.

“It was a very competitive race, and we had some really good performances,” head coach Matt Messner said.

Aaron Shapiro and Daniel Shaver placed 17th and 18th, respectively, in the boys race.

Shapiro, who is home schooled and does not compete in the H-DNL, trains with Messner occasionally and traveled with the team for the race.

He turned in a strong performance and finished in a time of 17 minutes, 2.03 seconds, less than a second ahead of Shaver (17:02.8), who ran his best race of the season in the hot conditions.

“Daniel ran a really great race,” Messner said. “That was a big PR.”

The top-20 finishers all medalled at the event.

In the girls JV race, freshman Maya Velasquez also had a strong showing, finishing the two-mile course in a time of 16:23.52 and placing 17th.

The Loggers were missing Charlotte Leonard, who has been the team’s consistent No. 1 runner but was battling sickness and was unable to make the trip.

Sophomore Miriam Mende continued her impressive start to the new season with a 24th place finish (21:02.0), followed by teammates Maggie Odell in 28th and Stasha Leonard in 30th.

And, according to the coach, the team is building nicely for a competitive conclusion to the season.

“For me, as a coach, I want them to peak at the end of the season,” Messner said. “I feel really good about where we’re at.

“Once we’re all healthy and running well, we’ll be up there.”

The Loggers and the rest of the H-DNL will get a preview of the league championship course when they race at the Arcata Marsh on Wednesday.