The Lakewood Cross Country team dazzled the crowd as they traveled to Palo Alto, Calif., Sept. 27 for the 2008 Stanford Invitational.

The boys team finished first overall and girls team came away with fourth place.

The boys, who were led by junior Taylor Guske’s eighth-place finish, had a total combined score of 141. Following Guske was Nick Devier in 15th place, Chad Skiles in 33rd, Byron Gouette in 40th, Trent Tresch in 46th, James Mattson in 76th and Thomas Scheffer in 118th. Palma Wade Meddles was the first runner-up with a score of 141. Tied with Lakewood for first place, the teams had to go to their sixth-place runner, which for Lakewood, was senior captain James Mattson. He beat out a Palma runner by less than one second to give Lakewood the lead, and overall win.

The women on the other hand, ran their third fastest race as a team in school history. Their combined score of 104.30 was led by senior Lacey Nation in 19th place, Chelsea Stokes in 22nd place, Tasha Bartol in 37th place, Amber Brunell in 50th place, Chelsea Sowards in 60th place, Yvette Kelp in 102nd place and Keely Caldwell in 135th place.

Senior Nick Devier later summed up the trip, “The team bonded very well and we came out with a win, so that’s a plus! We only raced for one day, the rest of the weekend was about bonding and that’s what we valued the most. Just having fun with people we care for.”

Despite the fun times, the athletes were happy to come back to Lakewood for Homecoming week.