Starfire girls win own invite

BERNE — The rain may have altered the course, but it didn’t alter the Starfires’ performance.
The South Adams High School girls cross country team had all five of its scoring runners finish in the top 10 as it handily won the invitational it hosted on a rainy Saturday morning.
The Starfires scored 26 points for first place, 33 ahead of runner-up Randolph Southern. Canterbury was third with 129 points.
Senior Bailey McIntire completed a career sweep of the invite, finishing first to lead the SAHS boys to a second-place finish with 86 points. Parkway was the team champion with 43 points, and Heritage was third with 101.
Kallee Patch, Olivia Von Gunten and Eliza Harruff were second, third and fourth respectively for the SAHS girls. Patch, who has two individual wins already in her freshman campaign, reached the finish line of the 4.8-kilometer course in 20 minutes, 30.15 seconds. Von Gunten had a time of 20:56.9 and Harruff ended in 21.13:7.
Kara Seffernick and Olivia Mason placed ninth and 10th with times of 22:09.78 and 22:19.23 respectively.
McIntire, who earned his fourth straight win at the event, finished with a time of 16:11.75. Junior teammate Wyatt Miller was 10th in 18:19.89, and Victor Vasquez ended in 19:17.25. Luke Gerber (19:37.6) placed 26th and Trey Lehman (19:51.72) was 33rd.
Also running for the SAHS girls were Hadi Hawbaker (15th – 22:46.18), Calyssa Lehman (19th – 22:55.83), Acacia Anderson (22nd – 23:08.23), Makinzi Peace (48th – 25:29.89) and Audrey Burson (64th – 27:02.2). The other boy runners included Kamden Yoder (56th – 20:56.47), Logan Stephenson (57th – 20:57.68), Nick Stutzman (85th – 23:22.68), Kaleb Peace (86th – 23:37.4), Travis Clingenpeel (100th – 25:25.94) and Solamen Stiles (111th – 29:30.33).
Middle school
The South Adams girls had three of the top five runners on their way to 49 points and a second-place finish.
Adams Central won the team title with 39, and Bluffton was third with 84.
Bellmont claimed the boys championship with 54 points. Adams Central scored 67 for second, edging the host Starfires by two points.
Mckenzie Sturwold was the individual winner in the girls race, finishing the 2.8-kilometer course in 10:47.72. Jocelyn Willis was third in 11:17.6, and Megan Miller finished in 11:28.14 for fifth. Ella Neuenschwander placed 21st in 12:32.75, and Addisyn Hunley completed the girls’ team score, finishing 28th with a time of 12:59.71.
Clancy McIntire paced the SAHS boys by finishing second in 10:10.28. Race Anderson also earned a top-10 finish, reaching the line in 10:38.38 for seventh.
Kaleb Stevens, Aidan Von Gunten and Brady Fox were 19th, 20th and 21st respectively. Stevens had a time of 11:00.83, Von Gunten finished in 11:06.62, and Brady Fox ended in 11:07.52.