What A Night! The performances that happened on Saturday in Piqua were something to behold. With races starting at 7:45 to the final gun at 10:35pm it was an incredible evening with PR's aplenty. This race is well run, extremely well attended, fast, and a lot of fun.

The girls kicked the night off with some of the best performances of the season, and in school history. With 3 ladies moving up on the all time top 15 list. In the varsity race at 9:55pm, the gun sounded, fireworks lit up the sky and our girls took off with a determination to do the incredible. The ladies raced hard through fields, around ponds, and into a crowded stadium where PR's fell around every turn. Leading the way was Laila Black with a new personal best of 20:18.2 moving her into 4th place on the all time Franklin Women's cross country top 15. She was followed closely by Sienna Finton with a 20:46.4, shaving nearly 20 seconds off her PR and lowering her 6th best place in school history. Also moving up on the all time list to number 11 was Kydee Shults with a new PR of 22:18.8. Others running new personal bests were Meryn Berry (26:40.1) and Chloe Moore (33:57.4). Bryley Wulff (25:01.3 ) and Gigi Perkins (21:57.1) were instrumental in one of the best team finishes for the ladies since the 90's as they came away with 10th place overall in field boasting runners from 32 teams and 37 different schools. This is going to truly be a team to watch as there is a lot of season left, and big things in their future.

The guys varsity race kicked off at 10:35 pm and included 36 teams and runners from 38 schools. With the overall winner racing through the tape in under 15 minutes this was an incredibly fast and competitive field. Our boys held their own and came away with a 19th place overall finish. The team was led by Oliver Crosthwaite with a 70th place finish out of over 270 runners in a time of 17:57.2. Daniel Osborne finished 2nd for the team in 18:24.6 and was followed by Donovan Schuyler (19:02.5), Tre'son Henley with a new PR of 19:07.0, Kellen Dunn (20:17.1), Kian Gatliff with a new PR of 20:34.0 and Cherif Sore (20:45.2) to round out our varsity team. In the JV race all three of our boys came away with new personal bests, including, Austin Cook (22:33.0), Brennen Dunn (24:17.6) and Milo Nau (25:17.7).

Next Saturday the Wildcats will head south for the Kings Invitational where we will face more competition for the Cincinnati area. The day is set to begin with the ladies taking to the starting line at 8:30 am followed by the men at 9am. Come on down to Kingswood Park at 4188 Irwin Simpson Road in Deerfield Township and cheer them on.