On Saturday the cross country teams travelled to Milton Union for the Bob Schul Invitational. This has always been a great event, and celebrates the legacy of the late Bob Schul, who is the only American to ever win gold in the 5,000 meters at the Olympics. The day began early with the boys varsity race taking off just after 8 am, in much better weather than last week, and a course that winds its way through the woods in true cross country fashion. The boys got the chance to race for the first time this season, and they were ready. The team was led by junior Oliver Crosthwaite who finished 37th out of 240 runners with a time of 17 minutes 57.8 seconds. He was followed by Daniel Osborne (19:14.3), Tre'son Henley (20:25.9), Caleb Osborne 21:10.2, Brian Davidson-Cunningham (23:25.1), Connor Cole (25:55.3), Brennen Dunn (27:20.7) and Milo Nau (31:33.5). The boys will look to improve on these times, and make a statement at the meet next Saturday in Lebanon.

In the girls race the ladies were happy to be running in much better conditions than last weekend. Instead of a heat index nearing 100, temperatures were only in the 60's making it a perfect day for some new personal records. Laila Black led the team to the finish with a time of 23:35.8 and finished 39th overall out of 141 runners. Right on her heels were senior Sarah Wallace (23:46.1) and Junior Kydee Shults who in only the second race of the season set a new personal best time of 23:46.2. Bryley Wullf was right behind them with a time of 24:40.8 and was followed by our four new high school runners who all ran new personal best times. That group was led by Gigi Perkins (25:35.8) who was followed by Brooklyn Hall (26:47.6), Reagan Pieschel (28:08.9) and Chloe Moore (42:43.4). This is the first time in the last few years the girls squad has had enough runners to qualify as a team, and they will look to keep improving as our new runners keep taking off big chunks of time as the season goes on.

Next weekend the teams will be travelling just a short distance to Lebanon High School, for the Running Warriors Invitational. This is a large and very competitive meet with over 2,000 high school athletes registered. If you can make the short drive the Varsity boys race begins at 8am followed by the girls at 9:45am. It looks to be another great weekend for racing. Lets go Cats!!