Panthers sweep Washington meet

WASHINGTON - The field was small in Washington on Thursday evening and some Mt. Pleasant runners were held out, but that didn't stop the Panthers from taking home the gold.

The boys' team won their first meet with 27 points, despite resting top runner Cody Mertens. The girls rested their top runner, Abby Ryon, but still own with 25 points.

Dalton Moyle was the star of the boys' race, picking up his first individual win of the season. Moyle won the race by 18 seconds, crossing the tape in 18:05.

The next five Panthers all crossed in a row. Thad Brooks was fifth place, in 19:37. Drake Snavely finished sixth, in 19:38. Logan White was seventh, in 19:50. Nick McCormick placed eight, in 19:56, and Dakota Triska was 11th, in 19:59.

Luke Ryon was the seventh Panther runner to come through, finishing in 15th place with a time of 21:10. Heath Brooks was 18th in 21:36. Nathan McWilliams placed 20th, in 21:44.

Runners outside the top 20 for Mt. Pleasant were GARRETT gray (21st, 21:49), Levi Mills (22nd, 21:50), Connor Axman (24th, 22:43) and Reece Kempker (25th, 22:50).

Maggie Jennings stepped up to be the top runner for the Mt. Pleasant girls. She finished second place, in 22:10, which was 19 seconds off the winner, Highland's Thomann Madison.

The Panthers took three of the top four spots with Cristina Carthey placing third, in 22:25, and Claire Holtkamp crossing in 22:50 for fourth. Kendall Dascher was seventh, in 23:32.

Abby Blint cracked the top 10 with a ninth-place 23:36. Monroe Swain finished 11th in 24:33. Aurora Vansickel was 20th, in 25:48. Kelsey Notestein finished 22nd, in 26:17. Jenna Gilmore finished 26th, in 27:38, and Abby Jalas was 27th, in 27:51.

The middle school girls took second place in their race, scoring 45 points. They had three in the top 10 in the two-mile race, as Audrey Lord (13:53.90) was fifth, Belle Meador (14:09.20) was seventh, and Elsie Lange (14:31.78) was eighth.

Other MPCMS girls running were Natalie McCormick (12th, 15:04.71), Addison Bentler (13th, 15:20), Leslie Lopez (19th, 16:43.21), Peyton Hainline (20th, 16:43.31), Josie Gilmore (22nd, 16:52) and Brooklynne Snavely (25th, 18:11).

The boys scored 80 points for third place. Ben Carthey was their top runner, finishing sixth in 12:12.

Four more Panthers finished in the top 25 in the boys' middle school race. Owen Vansickel was 13th, in 13:05. Tyler Johnson placed 18th, in 13:30.20. Will Robertson took 21st, in 14:07. Mowery Coleman was 22nd, in 14:35, and Jakin Bunnell placed 24th, in 14:47.

Other MPCMS boys running were Drake Landau (26th, 14:51), Ben Meador (27th, 14:51), Ethan Brush (35th, 16:40), Palmer Snavely (36th, 16:52) and Zach Johnson (37th, 16:55).