The Marion High School boys cross country team placed fourth at the Peabody-Burns Invitational, held Thursday at a farm on the southwest edge of Peabody. The Peabody-Burns boys placed second on their home course behind individual title-winner Aaron Topham.
Marion?s boys were led by medalists Ryan Jones (fourth, 18:05), Jordan Hett (fifth, 18:06) and Louis Holt (15th, 19:18).
Patrick McCarty (37th, 20:30), Michael Kirkpatrick (38th, 20:31), Jacob Cope (48th, 21:08) and Clark Kroupa (61st, 22:32) rounded out the MHS varsity.
Hesston placed first with 59 points and boys runner-up Peabody-Burns had 86. Hillsboro placed third with 93.
The Marion girls had just three varsity runners: Jaclyn DeForest (12th, 18:02), Monica Spachek (13th, 18:06) and Elizabeth Goentzel (29th, 19:14).
No local school posted a girls? team score.
Peabody-Burns?coach Kim Topham said that her Warrior boys ran on ?the most rugged of all the courses we have run on this year. Consequently, most of their times were a little slower than last week,? she said.
With Aaron Topham pacing the field, Jacob Simmonds placed 10th, followed by: Joshua Klarmann (14th), Sheldon Wiebe (17th), Steffen Pospeich (44th), Matthew Hiebert (45th) and Curtis Frederick (58th).
The varsity girls was run by PBHS track standout Lauren Pickens, who placed fifth, as well as Beatrice Coldorella (13th) and Amanda Pickens (24th).
Coming?Marion hosts its home race this week. Goessel and Canton-Galva will be among the participants. Peabody-Burns next runs Oct. 1 at Halstead.
