Frankfort topped the 10-team field with a socre of 45, and Mid-Indiana conference schools Hamilton Heights (66), Wesern (86) and Maconaquah (120) finished 2-3-4.

WHS runner Michael Marley covered the course in 17:40 to take fourth place to lead the Panthers, and teammate Luke Minor (18:02) grabbed sixth place.

"We were running without our No. 3 runner, Eric Walsh, who is out with an injury, and we have several [new-comers to the sport], so I was very pleased to get third place against pretty good competition," WHS coach Dana Neer said. "Out of the 20 boys on our team, 14 were running in their first race tonight."

Frankfort Invitational - Girls

Hamilton Heights turned in a score of 28 to top the 10-team field and fellow Mid-Indiana Conference schools Western (53) and Maconaquah (79) finished second and third, respectively.

Heights runner Heather Reeves topped the field with a time of 16:00, and Western runners Annina Gruber (16:11) and Anna Hurlock (16:17) finished 2-3 to lead the Panthers' charge.

"Hamilton Heights is a very strong team. They will be the conference favorite and probably a state contender," Wesern coach Dana Neer said. "It was nice to see them early on, and see kind of where we stand with them."

Neer liked what he saw from his runners.

"We kind of take a preseason scrimmage appraoch to this meet; we're really focusing on our race on Saturday," Neer said, referring to the Twin Lakes Grand Prix near Crawfordsville. "We worked on our pack approach, and I thought the girls ran a good race."