Panthers run at Lake Darling

BRIGHTON ? The fifth-ranked Pekin girls? cross country finished runner-up and the boys were fourth at Saturday?s Lake Darling invite outside of Brighton.

With runners divided by grade, the Pekin girls received wins from Gwynne Wright in the ninth-grade division and Shea Dahlstrom in the eighth-grade race. They tallied nine points as a varsity squad to finish just behind Davis County?s eight.

Gwynne Wright completed the 5-kilometer course in 14:41 for the overall victory, while teammates Taylor Lock (16:09) and Sloan Reighard (16:22) finished second and fourth, respectively, in the ninth-grade race. Maleaha Earnest finished third among 12th-graders (16:47), and Samantha Wright was third in the 11th-grade division (17:50).

Dahlstrom easily won the eighth-grade race with a time of 13:22.

The Pekin boys, meanwhile, finished fourth in the final team standings with 16 points. Highland won the title with eight.

Austin Fariss led the varsity squad with a third-place finish in the ninth-grade race (17:04). The Panthers also got a win from Sam Roth in the seventh-grade division (13:40).

Pekin?s Chase Earnest was fifth among 12th-graders (18:36), and Chris Little finished sixth in the 11th-grade race (18:38).

The Panthers will be running at Iowa City West today.