The cross-country season kicked off for all three local schools as Perryville, St. Vincent, and Saxony Lutheran competed in the Jackson Invitational on Saturday. This meet is not traditional as it is more of a warm-up for the runners. They are grouped with their respective grade levels and do not run a full 5K race like other meets during the regular season.
That didn’t stop many of the local runners from having good days.
For Perryville, sophomore Clayton Bauwens had the best overall day, finishing second his race with a time of 11:28. The sophomore did not have the best time of any Pirates as that belonged to Porter Johnson, who finished fifth in the junior race. Johnson finished with a time of 11:09.50. That was one place ahead of his teammate Bair Hopkins who finished sixth in the junior race with a time of 11:10.10.
Preston Johnson finished 10th in the junior race with a time of 11:25.30.
Micah Brown finished 13th in the sophomore race with a time of 12:26.40.
For the girls, Lucy Blythe finished 13th on the freshman race with a time of 15:22.40. Anna Rehagen was a few spots behind Blythe in the race as she finished 21st with a time of 16:18.30.
Gwyn Newbrough crossed the finish line just outside the top 20, finishing 22nd in the junior race with a time of 16:44.90.
For St. Vincent, Carter Hennemann finished second in the freshman race with a time of 11:22.40. While Hennemann had the best place finish, Jackson Unterreinner had the best time of any local runner. He finished seventh in the senior race with a time of 10:58. He was the only local runner to break the 11-minute mark as he looks to improve on his 17th place overall finish at the state meet one year ago.. Ethan Hotop finished 26th in the junior race with a time of 12:37.70.
On the girls side, Abigail Kirn had the best finish at 11th in the junior race with a time of 15:28.80. Senior Cailyn Prostfinished 21st in her race with a time of 17:39.10.
For Saxony Lutheran, Myra Roth started her season off well as she looks to return to the state meet for the third straight year. Roth finished 5th in the junior race with a time of 14:10.40. Her teammate Faith Dreyer also finished in the top 10 with a time of 15:28.80.
On the boys side Nicholas Chambless finished 12th in the freshman race with a time of 12:24.60 and Mark Richey finished 16th in the sophomore race at 12:50.90.
