The Marion High School boys cross country team placed second among six squads running the season opener at Abilene.
Led by Ryan Jones (18:31), Louis Holt (18:54) and Andy Shipman (19:02) who placed second, fourth and seventh, respectively, the boys totaled 66 points. The Warriors outran Abilene (84), Herington (96), Chapman (98) and Sacred Heart (113), but could not quite catch Southeast of Saline (43).
Michael Kirkpatrick placed fourth for the team, 18th overall, with a personal best 20:11.
?Michael ran quite a bit this past summer and did some hill work,? coach Bethany Carlson said. ?All that hard work has paid off tremendously for him.?
Brandon Meierhoff missed the meet with illness, opening the door for exchange student Philip Gu (38th, 22:17) to turn in the team?s fifth score.
A total of 65 boys and 49 girls competed.
The Marion girls team placed fifth out of five competing schools.
Camille Christensen placed first for the team, 14th overall, with a time of 16:53.
?Camille is back on track,? Carlson said. ?She is where she was two years ago when she made it to state.?
Christensen was followed by Jaclyn DeForest (17th, 17:50), Amanda Richmond (21st, 18:34), Bridgett Lundy (25th, 19:18) and Taylor Harms (26th, 19:22).
Coming?Marion?s next meet is at 4 p.m. Thursday in Hesston.
