Western’s Annina Gruber took top individual honors to lead Western to the top finish with a team score of 37, followed by Jay County (90) and Blackford (97). Peru was seventh at 155, Eastern ninth at 209, and Tri-Central 10th at 244.

Gruber led 7 WHS runners in the top 17. Jenn Elliott was fourth (16:43), Lacey Myer was fifth (16:59), Cassie Myer 13th, Katie Hollingsworth was 14th and Kiley Camp was 17th.

“This is the fourth year in a row that we’ve won this race,” Western Coach Dana Neer said. “It’s very special for Annina to have four Oak Hill championship in her four years of running. She’s also won this race individually twice. It was a great race for her, she led the entire way.

“This is a pivotal week for us. We have two big races, this one and then Saturday at Maconaquah. We ran a very good race and scored low. Being able to have seven girls in the top 17 was a great accomplishment.”

Tri-Central’s Addie Rayl came in second, covering the course in 16:51. Peru’s Jessica Parkman finished seventh. Eastern’s Emily Rethlake came in 12th while teammate Danielle Steiner was 20th.

Oak Hill Invitational - Boys

Western came in third with 103 points, and Peru was sixth with 134 points in the Oak Hill Invitational. No. 10-ranked Blackford won the 13-team invitational with 30 points, followed by Oak Hill at 50.

Western placed four runners in the top 25: Luke Minor (7th at 17:10); Trevor Mann (14th), Jared Hall (24th) and Shawn Parkins (25th). Hall was the top finisher among freshmen.

“We had quite a few personal-best times in both the JV and varsity race,” Western coach Dana Neer said. “We wanted to make sure we raced hard today to prepare ourselves for a peak performance at Maconaquah on Saturday.”

Neer said Saturday’s Maconaquah Invitational will be an even stiffer test, with 20 teams in the field.

Cody Siblisk led Peru with a fifth-place finish at 16:53. Andrew Bedwell came in 13th at 17:44, and J.R. Robison was 23rd at 18:15.

Blackford’s Adam Lenz was the overall winner in 15:45.

“I thought our top three were pretty good,” Peru coach Gary Downing said. “I also think that we are running well with battling injury and sickness.”