VINCENT - The Warren High School boys cross country team finished with 62 points to edge Fort Frye (72) and Belpre (72) for the Scenic Hills Lions Invitational crown here Saturday.
Warrior Parker Blain paced the hosts with a time of 17 minutes and 35 seconds to finish third overall. Kyle Conley took sixth with an effort of 17 minutes and 47 seconds while fellow Warrior Brent Ash was 12th after clocking in at 18:22.
Fort Frye's Jordan Anderson and Belpre's Cray Sistrunk finished fourth and fifth, respectively, as Anderson finished in 17:44, just two ticks ahead of the Golden Eagle. Cadets Ford McElroy (8th, 18:09) and Matthew Chesseman (9th, 18:17) also cracked the top 12 while James Haught of Magnolia finished 10th after posting an 18:19.
The best overall local finisher was Waterford's Eli Strahler, who took runner-up honors with his time of 17:25. However, no one was close to Southern High School overall champion Kody Wolfe's time of 16:44. Eastern's top placer was Tyson Long (24th, 19:57).
Athens, which had three runners in the top six and was led by winner Emily Cass (20:30), wasn't challenged in the race for the girls title as the Bulldogs won by amassing just 22 points. Fort Frye scored 69 to edge the host Warriors (75) for second place.
Eastern's Taylor Palmer clocked in eight ticks behind Cass and had to settle for second. Eagle teammate Keri Lawrence finished eighth after coming in seven seconds below 22 minutes.
Warren was led by the fifth place showing of Hannah Dugan (21:27) and Magnolia's top finisher was Christa Harshberger, who took seventh with a time of 21:52.
Natalie Hart of Fort Frye finished in 22 minutes flat, which was good for ninth place. Cadet Hannah Willey (16th, 23:09) and Belpre's Emma Williams (20th, 23:36) were the only other runners to crack the top 20.
