Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

The High School Cross Country teams traveled to Shelbyville Saturday morning for the Jeremy Wright Small School Invitational. This was the first race for the Stars this season and many were ready for the chance to show how hard they have been working these past few months. The ladies were up first with Joan Gearheart crossing the line in 18th place with a time of 23:32, followed by Abigayle Humphrey in 20th place (23:41). Claire Torp made a triumphant return to XC and showed that she hasn't missed a beat finishing 45th with a 25:15, with Harmony Gilbrech in at 30:52, Katrina Brewer (31:15) and Britney Richwine (31:57). The team duplicated their 7th place overall finish from last year. In the boys race, it was Aiden Lester leading the way to a 13th place finish in 17:54 with Brennen Bivens pushing himself to a near personal best in the season opener with a 22nd place finish of 18:32. Freshman Ari Smith in his first High School 5k ran an impressive 19:20 for 37th place followed by fellow first time XC racer Charlie Jones in 58th place(20:13). Rex Stanley and Owen Young paced each other with Rex out kicking in the end for the 74th place(20:33) and Owen in 79th place(20:48). Caleb Crockett crossed in 92nd(21:25) followed by Griffin Johanson in 108th(21:49), Kole Nelson 149th(23:16), Blaine Ballentine 153rd(23:19), Hayden Trenary 164th(23:35), Simon Yarger (29:07) and Jacob Nance (33:17). There were 262 runners in this race with the boys team finishing an impressive 4th place of 26 schools. This was a good start for Webo XC with several athletes that are new to 5k competitions. Nearly every returning runner dropped a minute or more from this course last year. The XC Stars will compete again this Tuesday in Lafayette at the Champ at the Amp. Go Stars!