Western’s boys and girls cross country teams each took fourth in the 14-team Fountain Central Invitational Saturday.
On the girls side, the Panthers posted a score of 83. West Lafayette won the meet with a score of 39, followed by Perry Meridian (68), Harrison (71), the Panthers and McCutcheon (93).
Katie Hollingsworth led the Western contingent, taking second in a time of 20:33. Jenn Elliott was 12th (21:46), Ashley Gaskins was 18th (22:23), Corianne Myer was 24th (22:50), Kayla Gaskins was 29th (23:06), Lacey Myer was 34th (23:49), and Bre Nicholas was 35th (23:53). The Gaskins twins, Corianne Myer and Nicholas are freshmen.
“I think that they gained a lot of knowledge of how to race the new, extended distance,” Western coach Heather Yentes said. Girls switched from 4,000 meters to 5,000 this season.
On the boys side, McCutcheon (20) ran away from the pack. West Lafayette (50), Perry Meridian (58), Western (101) and Harrison (158) rounded out the top five.
Zac Martinez (17:35) and Corey Scott (17:46) finished 12th and 14th, respectively, to lead Western. Also for the Panthers, Austin Young (18:35), Michael Ladd (18:37) and Kody Harmon (18:41) finished 25-27 and Chris Love (18:49) came in 29th.
“We had a very good effort. All six of them ran outstanding races for this early in the season,” Western coach Joe Orr said. “Last year, I think we had only two break 19 minutes. This year, to have six guys break 19, was great. We had a lot better weather conditions too — it was in the 60s and really nice.”
McCutcheon’s J.R. Hodgen covered the course in 16:32 to take first place.
Western returns to action next Saturday when it hosts its invitational at Oakbrook Valley.