by Gwen Pearson

Many interesting factors happened at the cross country meet at Lynnville-Sully on Sept. 18. The girls’
team finished second out of six with 82 points while the boys came in seventh place out of ten teams, earning a total of 153 points.
Leading the way to the finish line in the girls’ 4k was sophomore Rachel Stafford in fifth with a time of 18:01. Close behind her was senior Rachel Peter with a time of 18:23, and soon after was freshman Baylee Smith with the finishing time of 18:56, earning her first medal as a varsity runner. Junior Kiara Kappelmann timed out at 20:31 while her classmate Mallory Bell followed shortly after with a time of 20:45. Junior Morgan Novak finished with a time of 21:31. The six girls from PCM ran against a total of 72 from other schools.
“I’m really happy about getting that varsity medal. I was never expecting to get one my freshman year,” Smith said, also stating, “None of us got a personal record, but we only missed first place by eight points. We’re definitely improving.”
Freshman Blaise Winegardner led the boys’ team in the 5k with a time of 18:10, finishing the course second out of a total of 90 runners.. Following Winedardner was sophomore Chris Ellens, who finished with a time of 20:51, while junior Trenton Howard came in with a time of 22:41. Sophomore Chase Kuecker finished with a time of 23:21, followed by freshman Caleb Peter with a time of 23:34. Junior Andres Vargas and sophomore Braden Phifer finished with times of 24:13 and 24:38 respectively. Freshman Brady North came in with a time of 25:07, while his classmate, Rory Van Gorp, finished with a time of 25:08. Freshmen Bradley McClellan and Jonathan Heath finished the course with the times of 25:25 and 31:03 respectively.
“Finishing seventh doesn’t always seem like a great night, but only six points was the difference between us and fourth place,” Head Coach Eric Karr said.
The next meet happens to be tonight, Sept. 25, at 4:30 at the Gateway Golf Course in Monroe.