Valley Cross Country: Middle Schoolers Show Their Stuff
AKRON – Host Tippecanoe Valley placed third in the girls’ meet and sixth in the boys’ standings in the junior high portion of the Tippecanoe Valley Cross Country Invitational Saturday.
Rochester Middle School won the girls race with a score of 33, followed by Manchester Junior High’s 56 and Valley’s 108. Whitko finished eighth on the girls’ side with a 166 score, while Triton Junior High and Lakeland Christian fielded incomplete teams at the big middle school meet.
Josie Briner and Kambree Cashdollar finished first and second, respectively, for Manchester with times of 12:49 and 13:00, and Ainsley West and Jaci Naragon entered the chute in 13th and 14th, respectively, with identical times of 13:38.5. Kaesyn Lester (14:21.2) placed 26th to complete the Lady Squires’ team score.
Pacing Valley was Chesnee Miller with a 13:14 time for seventh place individually. Ella Myers (14:15) finished 29th, Maria Henderson (14:18) was 53rd, and Corinna Stiles (14:24.3) and Molly Moriarty (14:24.7) finished 27th and 28th.
Leading Whitko was Lily Spurlin (13.32) in 12th, while Jordan Leininger (14:33) and Nadia Rhoades (14:41) were 32nd and 33rd, Megan Baxter (15:25) was 41st, and Stephanie Miller (15:59) was 48th for the Lady Wildcats.
Jocelynn Faulkner finished fifth for Triton with a 13:12.3 stop. Karmen Holland (15:32) was 80th, and Makenna May (15:34) was 81st for the Lady Trojans’ junior high squad.
Katie Reichard (15:36) placed 85th to lead Triton’s fifth graders. Samantha Middaugh (18:17) was 99th for the Trojan fifth grade, while May Davis (20:34) placed 109th.
Lakeland Christian’s Rebecca Schwartz clocked a 17:55 for 96th place.
Meanwhile, in the boys’ race, West Noble Middle School led the way with 30 points, Rochester was second with a 47 score, and Wabash put up a 130 score for third place. Manchester was fourth with a 155, the host Vikings tallied a 163 score for sixth, Whitko was 10th with a 265, Triton Junior finished just four points back in 11th, and Lakeland Christian Junior High and Triton’s fifth graders recorded a pair of incomplete scores.
Raice Martin (12:11) finished 11th for Manchester, followed by Cade Jones (12:14) in 14th. Lane Stetzel (12:29) was 23rd, Jonathan Eberly (13:26) was 36th, and Jacob Hesting (14:13) was 53rd.
Leading Valley was Nolan Cumberland (12:28) in 22nd. Logan Hummitch (12:55) and Carson Craft 12:57) were 54th and 32nd and 33rd, Gerardo Hernandez (13:27) was 37th, and Cooper Walls (13:31) was 39th for the Vikings.
For Whitko, Jayden Stratton (12:54) was 31st, Logan Huffman (13:53) was 46th, Rhodes Carter (14:28) was 58th, Payton Reid (14:49) placed 62nd, and Harman Carter (15:36) rounded out the Wildcats in 68th.
Chandler Westafer (12:27) finished in 21st for Triton Junior High, while Tyler Gladieux (13:35) was 42nd, Hunter Schaetzle (15:25) was 67th, Breylon Wareham (15:43) was 69th, and Keegan Best (15:56) finished 70th.
Wyatt Davis (14:26) finished 76th for Triton’s fifth graders, Travis Barnhart (15:04) was 87th, Connor Stetzel (15:26) was 95th, and Quentin Davis (21:33) placed 128th.
Micah Burns (13:59) placed 57th for Lakeland.