It was hard for Wright City Cross County Coach Sue Wright to judge her runners at the Lynn Invitational Sept. 10.

“It was a mudfest,” Wright said. “Kids were losing their shoes because the mud was just sucking them out. I had to scrub all uniforms, it was just horrible.”

Senior standout Erin Tomschin led the Wildcats with an eighth-place finish, completing the course in 23 minutes, 29.85 seconds.

“Erin did a really nice job and I was very pleased with how she finished,” Wright said.

Other than that, Wright threw out the rest of her team’s results.

“Everyone just had horrible times because of the weather,” she said. “It’s a great course, but there was no way to have good times. But I’m pleased with our performances. Some kids can handle that type of situation and others can’t. I don’t know how anyone could have handled the situation we were in.”

Wright noted the improved performance of sophomore Sean Pfuhl, who ran in the junior varsity race and finished in 29:41.07.

“I think the only person that had an improved time was Sean, and that’s just because he’s improved so much,” Wright said. “He was my most improved  runner last year as a freshman, and he just keeps plugging. He’s one of those kids who is never going to give up, just like the majority of my team.”

Wright said her boys team, which is the largest group she has ever coached, has made improvements each week throughout the season.

She hopes the group, along with Tomschin, continues to make strides at Friday’s race at Warrenton.

“I’m excited about Friday because it’s going to give us a good idea of where we are at,” Wright said. “It’s our district site after moving up a class, so it’s a close race.”

The Wildcats competed in Class 3, District 3 last season, but joined Warrenton in Class 4, District 4 this year.

Warrenton will host the district race next month.

“It’s a much flatter course than most, so we’re going to work on our speed,” Wright said. “I’ll have a better idea of where we’re at after Friday.”