WEST MILTON – The West Liberty-Salem boys cross country team won its 5th straight Bob Schul Invitational on Saturday.

WL-S had 69 points and Botkins was second with 134.

For the Tigers, Asher Knox was 6th in 17:11.9, Dylan King was 11th in 17:27.3, Joey LaRoche was 14th in 17:45.8, Quentin Rudolph was 15th in 17:47.5, Troy Bradley was 23rd in 18:01.2 and Caleb Larson was 26th in 18:05.7.

In the junior high boys race, WL-S was first out of 28 teams. Asher Cole was first out of 294 runners in a time of 11:15.8

The WL-S girls cross country team placed third at the Bob Schul Invitational.

The Big Orange was only nine points away from first place finisher and defending state champions Minster and tied with state-ranked Madeira, but finished third on the tie-breaker sixth runner.

Malia Miller and Ashley Yoder led the Big Orange with top 10 finishes.

Miller placed 5th (19:57.9) and Yoder was 6th (20:02.6). Addie McAuley and Breece Gullet chipped in top 20 finishes with McAuley placing 12th (20:23) and Gullet placing 17th (20:46.7).

“The Bob Schul Invitational was probably the most competitive D-III girls race in the state over the weekend,” said WL-S Coach Ann Vogel. “Our focus was to brush off the dust and be present and competitive on the course. I feel we did a good job of holding our own and I was proud of our efforts. I think this race will fuel our fire as the season progresses.”

In the junior high girls race, WL-S was ninth out of 27 teams. Addi Wallen was 4th out of 263 runners in a time of 13:36.

Graham at NW

SPRINGFIELD – The Graham cross country teams ran in the Northwestern Warrior Classic on Saturday. The boys finished fifth out of 13 teams and the girls finished sixth out of seven teams.

Results for the Graham boys were Ayden Rudolph 18:30.56 (16th out of 153 runners), Jack Bonham 19:24.47 (31st), Carter Smith 20:16.13 (48th), Jesse Jenkins 20:27.10 (53rd) and Brayden Crooks 21:10.95 (70th).

Results for the Graham girls were Hailey Nash 21:32.34 (1st out of 83 runners), Leila Konicki 25:43.28 (38th), Ivy Hatfield 25:45.67 (39th), Ella Putterbaugh 26:26.20 (42nd) and Grace Smith 29:08.06 (56th).

In junior high girls results, Hattie Uhl finished 37th out of 74 runners (17:46.48) and for the boys, Josh Craig finished 10th out of 54 runners (14:11.22).