SPRINGFIELD – The West Liberty-Salem girls cross country team placed 3rd out of 16 teams at Saturday’s Buck Creek Invitational.
The Tigers, ranked 14th in the latest Division III OATCCC poll, had strong performances from junior Reghan Bieleski, who finished in 3rd place (19:26.3), and freshman Grace Adams, who finished in 4th place (19:26.7). Both Bieleski and Adams had career personal best times.
Payton Umphries placed 26th (21:45-PR), Kiana Reames 33rd (22:05), Lydia Moell 34th (22:16-PR), Lauren Fowler 49th (22:58), Jenna Magnuson 64th (23:14), Julie Parker 85th (24:06-PR), Sarah Painter 96th (24:43), Anna Louden 122nd (25:24), Savannah Weaver 123rd (25:25-PR), Tory Pawelko 138th (26:25) and Mikaela Holdridge 189th (31:18). There were a total of 209 runners.
“We really held our own against some larger state-caliber teams. One of the great things about our team is how each runner pushes each other at practice and at our meets. It’s that kind of drive for improvement that will be key as we head into the postseason,” WL-S Coach Ann Vogel said.
WL-S is 84-11 on the season and will compete at the Anna Rocket Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 8.
The WL-S boys team was 4th out of 23 teams in a field with 296 runners.
Nick Williams (9th, 16:58-PR) and Michael Conley (13th, 17:10) led the Tigers with a pair of top-15 finishes.
Noah Smith (26th, 17:44), Cade Clerico (61st, 18:56-PR), Charlie Williams (64th, 18:59), Isaac Smith (84th, 19:26), Bryan Woods (91st, 19:40) and Caleb Siegenthaler (146th, 20:50) all ran.
“I was very pleased with our overall result. Coming into the meet we were just looking to build off of our victory from last week’s Caverns meet, and I thought we did just that,” WL-S Coach Mike Louden said. “Nick and Michael ran exceptional races and give us that nice 1-2 punch up front heading into our last regular season meet this week. Another standout performance was from Cade Clerico, who was competing in his first meet of the year after being sidelined with an injury. With Cade in the mix it really helps with our team depth and gives our team that much needed push heading into the postseason.”
The Tigers are 77-28 on the season.
House continues strong season
Heidelberg cross country competed at the Division III Pre-National meet in Louisville over the weekend.
Former Mechanicsburg runner Rachel House finished 20th out of 333 runners in 20:30 at the 6,000-meter course. Fellow MHS graduate and teammate Hayley Cochran did not run due to injury.
The Student Princes are back in action on Oct. 14th at Wilmington College.
JH cross country
The WL-S Middle School cross country teams both won the Buck Creek Invitational.
Dylan Lauck led the boys, finishing 2nd out of 120 runners with a time of 12:17.
Hayden Kennedy was 21st in 13:15, Isaac Brown was 22nd in 13:24, Tate Yoder was 26th in 13:33, Isaac Reames was 42nd in 14:00, Elliott Hager was 72nd in 15:23 and Hayden Miller was 101st in 17:00.
The girls trio of Katelyn Stapleton (12:26), Megan Adams (12:34) and Madison Bahan (12:53) swept the top three places.
Mandilyn Weaver was 10th place in 14:49, Hallie Smith was 12th in 15:03, Maria Henderson was 47th in 16:33, Lili Wilson was 98th in 21:11, Micah Stoner was 99th in 21:33 and Lili Davis was 101st in 21:30.
