Demons win two titles at the Lake Darling Invitational

The Washington cross-country team won a pair of titles at Saturday?s Lake Darling Invitational.

The meet was scored by class, and Washington?s sophomore girls and seventh-grade boys both won titles.

Stephanie Loy took second place in 18:06 to lead the sophomore girls, who won with 17 points. Sarah Greiner came in seventh in 19:50, and Jennie Greene rounded out the scoring with her eighth-place finish in 19:56. Addison Gaal finished 13

^th

in 21:06, and Aaliyah Brown crossed the finish line 10 seconds later in 14

^th

place. Jalyssa Jepson was 15

^th

in 21:47.

Brennan Horak took second place in 14 minutes flat to lead the seventh-grade boys, who won with a score of 12 points. Austin Stalder came in fourth in 15:08, and Andrew Jeffries rounded out the scoring with his sixth-place finish in 15:38. Blake Hartzler finished eighth in 16:11.

?I was really happy with the sophomores and the seventh-graders,? Washington head coach Steve Roth said. ?It?s really cool to win their divison. This is a really neat meet for the kids because it?s class against class. It?s something different than what we do all year. They get to run against their own grade and score against their own grade.?

Mariah Reighard took eighth place in the senior girls? race, crossing the finish line in 19:05. That time was 30 seconds faster than her time at last year?s Lake Darling Invitational. Sara Conwell came in 10

^th

in 20:37.

Brandon Rhinhart came in sixth in 19:25 to lead the senior boys, while Logan Moeller finished eighth in 19:56.

Chayse Jaspering finished eighth in the junior girls? race in 20:52. Grace Redlinger came in ninth in 22:53, and Dema Giardino crossed the finish line one second later in 10

^th

place.

Austin Latcham took fifth place in 18:38 to lead the junior boys. Jiovanni Tapia finished 15

^th

in 22:16, and Chase Litchfield was 16

^th

in 26:50.

Curtis Vest was Washington?s lone sophomore boy, and he took fifth place in 18:10.

?Curtis is getting really close to breaking 18 minutes, and that?s what he wants to do,? Roth said.

Mariah Howard took fourth place in the eighth-grade girls? race, crossing the finish line in 14:36. Makayla Shafer came in 12

^th

in 16 minutes flat, and Jenna Engle was 15

^th

in 17:15. Linda Diaz finished 17

^th

in 17:24, and Maggie Voss was 18

^th

in 18:35.

Owen Horak took sixth place in 13:35 in the eighth-grade boys? race, and teammate David Mares was seventh in 13:55. Kyle Schindler came in 12

^th

in 15:33, and Collin Zear was 17

^th

in 16:52.

Meredith Graber took sixth place in the seventh-grade girls? race, crossing the finish line in 15:40.

While Roth was pleased to win a pair of titles at Saturday?s meet, he was more happy with the improvement he saw from his athletes.

?We had 11 personal bests, which was outstanding,? he said. ?It?s a good time of year to start getting PRs.?