Patriot runners claim the top spots at WCHS

WINCHESTER — The Patriots claimed the first dual meet of the season against their neighbors to the east.

The results were no different when they traveled south.

The Jay County High School cross country teams beat the Winchester Community Golden Falcons by a total of 40 points in a tri-match with Union City.

The Patriots girls (2-0) ran away with the victory as they claimed the top four places to defeat WCHS 17-42. The Jay County boys (2-0) claimed a 21-36 win over the Golden Falcons. Union City didn’t have enough runners to put together a team score on either side.

Brooklynn Byrum, Abby Fifer and Ava May claimed the top three finishes. Byrum crossed the finish line in 21 minutes, 27 seconds, while Fifer followed in 21:30 and May was two seconds behind.

Christiana Teegarden (21:38) of Union City split up the pack of Patriots, but Jessie Homan claimed fifth place with a 22:25 to score the next point.

The final score for Jay County came from Alexis Sibray (eighth place, 23:30), while Paityn Wendel (ninth, 23:58) and Alyvia Muhlenkamp (12th, 28:08) took points away from the Golden Falcons. (Winchester’s top finish belonged to Mariah Manning in sixth with a 22:57.)

Max Klopfenstein paced the boys with a 18:56 to win the race. Daegan Albertson (19:01) of Winchester crossed the line second, but the next three finishers were Patriots.

Caison Lloyd earned third with a 19:06, Grant Glentzer trailed behind with a 20:12 and Alex Rivers’ 21:10 had him crossing the line in fifth.

Ethan Powers and John Cook had back-to-back finishes in eighth and ninth with times of 22:33 and 22:55, respectively. (Powers’ placement added to the Patriots’ score, while Cook just took points away from Winchester.) Isaac Hawbaker also competed, running a 26:48 that placed him 12th.