Western's girls and boys cross country teams continued to shine with strong performances Tuesday in the 15-team Logansport Invitational.

Western's girls team claimed its first-ever Logan championship as the trio of Annina Gruber, Brittany Stellhorn and Anna Hurlock paced the Panthers with a 2-3-5 finish.

Western scored 47 points with Maconaquah second at 65, Northwestern took third with Kokomo, Cass and Peru finishing seventh through ninth. Carroll was 12th, Rensselaer's Allison Malone was the winner in 15 minutes, 36 seconds with Gruber next at 15:46. Breaking up the Panther group was Maconaquah's Ashley Lehman in fourth at 16:06. Cassie Myer and Megan Clearwaters wrapped up Western's scoring in 19th and 20th respectively.

Western coach Dana Neer pointed to the efforts of Myer and Clearwaters.

"We had several PRs [personal records]. Megan and Cassie both sense the necessity of decreasing their times and pulling up closer to our No. 5 runner," he said. "They ran with great determination. Annina, Brittany and Anna locked in and held their positions from 800 meters on. The last 800 was very, very competitive - as fast as their first 800."

"Vanessa Lorenz ran a personal best, her first time in the 17s, and Liz Hoppes has taken on the challenge of running No. 7 as a freshman. We have three freshmen in our top seven right now. They had a wonderful race."

The Braves also had Kristi Romine in seventh and Michelle Denham finishing 10th. Other top area performers were Carroll's Courtney Rinehart (13th), Kokomo's Adrienne Shepherd (Nth), North western's Katie McCool (16th) and Cass Ashley Jones (7th).

On the boys side, the Panthers' super senior duo of Kyle Walsh and Jim Jackson turned in a 1-2 finish to lead their team to second place.

No. 12 Huntington North claimed the team championship, outdistancing Western 41-60. Carroll was third, nipping Peru 113-116. Other finishes by area teams were Kokomo (seventh), Cass (eighth), Northwestern (10th), Maconaquah (1lth) and Tipton (13th).

"The kids just hit it. With the sectional just two weeks away, they wanted to run hard and sharp," Neer said. "This was the highest Western's boys have been in many years here. We'd get in the top five but we couldn't get first or second."

Michael Marley followed up his Panther teammates in ninth and Andy Snow ran his first sub-18:00 time, finishing 19th at 17:49.

"They were on and wanted to run well. Andy just continues to improve and improve," Neer said. "Michael also beat his personal best from last year and he's making the right moves at the right time as well."

Bryan Phillips led the Kats in fourth with Carroll's Jarred Beaver seventh and Cass' Chris Schoff eighth. Peru got a 10th from Elliott Cohee and Carleton Smith was 13th for Northwestern. Jared Holycross led Maconaquah in 20th.