After the Jackson boys and girls cross country teams won the Arcadia Valley Invitational on Sept. 9, both Indians teams placed first in the Cape Central Invitational over the weekend as well.
Each squad had its top-five runners who accounted for their team’s final score finish in the top five as Jackson’s girls team finished with 21 points, while the boys ended up at 25.
Indians junior Annika Barks won the girls race by posting a time of 20 minutes, 37.1 seconds as sophomore Emma Niedbalski paced her in second place by crossing the finish line at 21:03.5.
Also placing in the top five for Jackson’s girls team was freshman Lynlee LaValle, who took fourth overall by posting a time of 21:50.8.
Indians sophomore Anika Stephens and freshman Kalissa Smith also placed in the top 10 for the girls teams at sixth (21:53.2) and ninth overall (23:01.4), respectively.
Moving on to Jackson’s boys team, senior Bryce Gentry won the race individually by crossing the finish line at 16:40.5. Gentry was the only runner at the meet to complete the race in under 17 minutes.
Two fellow Indian seniors finished in the top five with Gentry as Jack Hutson took third overall with a time of 17:35.4, while Zach Brazel ended up in fifth place, finishing the race at 17:36.2.
Recording a top-10 finish as well were Jackson freshmen Kenyan Kelpe (seventh place; 18:08.9) and Lane McBryde (ninth; 18:19.4). Even though his score didn’t count towards the Indians final, freshman Chase Wendel placed 10th at 18:21.5.
Competing this weekend also was, of course, the Notre Dame cross country program as it raced in the Missouri Southern Stampede held in Joplin.
In a meet that featured more than 40 different teams from Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas as well as Missouri, the Bulldogs girls team was able to have two runners place in the top 100.
Notre Dame senior and two-time all-state medalist Lauren Eftink set a new personal record with her time of 18:48.12 to finish eighth overall out of 270 runners.
Also finishing in the top 100 for Notre Dame was sophomore Lily Coy, who placed 51st overall as she crossed the finish line with a time of 20:16.5.
