SAHS boys win, girls second

DECATUR — Three Starfire boys placed in the top five Tuesday to lead the South Adams High School cross country team to victory at the Bellmont Invitational.
The Starfires edged Fort Wayne North Side 37-42 for the win in the seven-team event. The South Adams girls were second with 50 points behind Leo (38) and ahead of third-place Jay County (85).
Eric Isch set the pace for the SAHS boys, narrowly missing victory as he finished less than a second off the pace in 16 minutes, 49.6 seconds. Evan Liechty added a fourth-place effort in 17:13, and Brody Shane took fifth in 17:21.
The Starfires also picked up the runner-up spot in the girls race with Hannah Moore crossing the finish line in 20:20. Sawyer Shane gave the squad a second top-five runner with her fifth-place finish in 21:12, and Jenna Smith was right behind her in sixth in 21:14.
Kristen Muselman was eight in 21:25, and Joel Hawbaker placed 10th in the boys competition in 17:48.
The top runner on the day for Jay County, which was minus junior Katie Simmons because of an injury, was senior Leah Wellman in 12th with a time of 22:09. Freshman Abigail Johnson and junior Eme Miller went back-to-back in 15th and 16th with times of 22:26 and 22:29 respectively.
Logan Laux came in 19th at 22:50, and Megan Taylor was 23rd with a time of 23:34.
Simon Sprunger completed the South Adams boys team score with his 16th-place finish in 18:19, and Emily Miller was the No. 5 runner for the girls in 29th at 24:10.
Freshman Chaz Carroll was the top runner for the Patriot boys, who do not have enough runners for a team score, as he placed 68th in 23:08. Tyler Osborne was 73rd in 24:21, and Zach Johnson finished 74th in 24:27.[[In-content Ad]]