Kevin Nickel and Todd Lehman take an early lead Saturday. Joe Wuest photo.
Goessel’s annual 5-kilometer Harvest Festival race drew 106 entries from as far away as Clay Center, Sterling and Wichita.
Of the 106, 49 call Marion County home, and many more have ties to the area, as in the case of top finishers Kevin Nickel (first, 17:02) and Todd Lehman (third, 17:59).
Nickel is a Goessel native and Lehman was youth pastor at Hillsboro’s First Mennonite and Trinity Mennonite churches.
Hillsboro had five finishers in the top 25 overall: Sean Leihy (fourth, 18:05), Bob Woelk (15th, 21:05), Bill Good (18th, 21:31), Tom Leihy (19th, 21:50), and Anna Woods (21st, 22:08).
Lonnie Hiebert (29th, 23:42) was Goessel’s top finisher.
Marion’s top finisher was Casson Schmidt (32nd, 25:07).
Galva was represented by Teri Chaney (51st, 28:14) and Lehigh was represented by Jim Dawes (61st, 31:09).
Donna Spoonemore (27th, 23:22) placed first in the women’s 40-49 group. Sandy Arnold (44th, 27:15) and Shelly Schale (50th, 29:03) gave Hillsboro a 1-2 finish in the women’s 30-39 group.
Good placed first in the men’s 20-29 group, and Leihy placed first in the men’s 10-19 group.
Four-year-old Skylar Wuest, walking with sister Brooklyn and mother Deena, of Goessel, placed third in the boys 9-and-under group. Goessel’s Eden Hiebert, 8, and Brittany Hiebert, 9, placed second and third in the girls 9-and-under group.
