Boggs and Sibray lead Patriot runners

UPLAND — Joseph Boggs was just three spots away from opening his season with a ribbon.

Boggs’ time of 17 minutes, 53.6 seconds led the Jay County High School cross country teams during the Trojan XC Opener at Taylor University on Saturday morning.

The time was over a minute better than his opening performance last season at Celina High School (18:58.2) and earned him 23rd place. (The top 20 individuals received awards at the meet.) Gabe Reynolds of Muncie Central took the 20th spot with 17:41.8.

Leading the girls team, Alexis Sibray crossed the finishing line at 23:19.8, which was good enough for 31st-place. The 20th runner across the finish line was Aurilia Moulton of Yorktown, doing so in 22:25.4.

Just over a minute behind Sibray was Paityn Wendel in 49th with 24:384. Willow Hardy was the third Patriots to finish for the girls, placing 57th in 25:08.1.

The boys had two players finish back-to-back, only 0.5 seconds apart. Max Klopfenstein edged out freshman Beckett Brandenburg for 90th-place, with a time of 21:08.4.

The final Patriots to compete in the event were Darren Fisher (121st, 23:17.6) and Courtney Harris (87th, 30:20.6).

The Patriots did not have enough participants to qualify as a team.