Boys Meet

Western rested several stalwarts but had plenty of depth in winning the five-team invite. The Panthers led the field with a score of 25, followed by White’s (68), TC (69), Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter (92) and Taylor (94).

Western’s Kody Harmon was the top finisher in 18:16. Ben Bradshaw was second (18:51), Braxton Bagwell was fourth (19:29), Joe Whitmore was eighth (19:56) and Brice Sheets was 10th (20:06).

“We didn’t run all of our varsity runners. We have a big meet on Thursday [the Rossville Invitational]. I didn’t want our top guys racing twice like that in one week so we held them out. They guys that ran actually did a great job,” Western coach Gary Jewell said, noting a good run from Brice Sheets, who ran a personal best for the second straight race. Jewell was also “very pleased with Kody Harmon, he led the race from start to finish.”

For Taylor, Julian Nieto led with a seventh-place finish (19:50) followed by Shane Arnold (18th, 21:04), Colin Osman (19th, 21:09), Anthony Rentz (21st, 21:17) and Nick Shane (29th, 23:09).

“I was very pleased,” Taylor coach Matt Carlile said. “All of them ran to their strengths. This was our second full meet. I’ve noticed a little bit of improvement. They’re heading in the right direction.

“We’re missing a couple right now due to a late join and an injury.”

Montrail Johnson was sixth to lead TC (19:42), Keegan Pyke was 12th (20:15), Leighton Adair was 15th (20:41), Brock Tew 16th (20:41) and Kyle Garhart was 20th (21:15).

Girls race

Cardinal Ritter (26) edged Western (29) for top honors in the three-team meet. Host TC fielded an incomplete team.

Second-place finisher Corianne Myer (21:57) led the Panthers. Bre Nicholas (fourth place, 22:41); Kelsey Durr (sixth, 23:17); Erin Weber (seventh, 24:07) and Kayla Gaskins (10th, 24:48) rounded out the Panthers’ top five.

“Watching [the meet], to be honest, I was a little frustrated. But I looked at the times and every one of them ran their best times of the year so how can you be upset with that? I was proud of their effort,” Western coach Bo Britton said.

“This was Kayla Gaskins’ first race this year after having an injury so it was really good to get her back. She’s hopefully going to get stronger the next few meets and get back to her usual form. She kind of felt the effects of the layoff [Tuesday],” he added.

Casey Muhs was 11th to lead TC (25:10) and Hollie Puckett was 13th (25:52).