GUTHIRE CENTER — The Perry varsity and middle school cross country teams ran the circuit Thursday at the AC/GC Invitational, with several harriers posting excellent times.
The Perry girls were third in their team race. Van Meter was first with 32 points and AC/GC second with 49, with Perry (77), West Central Valley (82), and CAM (135) following.
AC/GC won the boys event with 28 points. The Norwalk JV was second at 36 and Perry third at 89, with Van Meter (95) and CAM (141) following.
Van Meter junior twins Claire and Mary Kelly were 1-2 in the girls race in 21 minutes, 25 seconds and 21:23. Perry senior Jaylene Karolus edged WCV sophomore Taitlin Koch for third place by crossing in 22:50.
Taryn Nehring finished 11th for Perry in 24:18, with Julie Maylum (18th, 25:54), Mylah Meis (22nd, 26:58), and Mercedes Ponce (23th, 27:18) also scoring for the Jayette varsity. Denise Rivera was 29th in 32:22 and Laurine Calamy 30th in 33:54 while Aliya Ikhsanova (35:15) also competing for Perry.
The Bluejay varsity was led by Fithawi Andemichael, who placed sixth overall in 18:48. Perry had harriers place 18-19-21-25, with Gannon Meis (20:05), Yonas Andemichael (20:12), Jonathan Chavez (21:27), and Owen Myers (22:49) placing for the Jays.
Jose Chavez (28th, 23:34) and Mason Hoffman (32nd, 24:27) also ran for the varsity, with Kyle Hernandez (26:01) on the course as well.
Trevin Suhr of AC/GC won the boys varsity race in 17:08, with Ethan Franklin of the Norwalk JV second in 18:24.
Only two schools — Van Meter (20) and Perry (39) — had the five runners necessary to produce a team score in the girls two-mile middle school competition.
Perry’s Lily Myers was the first to finish, doing so in 15:11. Rosa Pineda (18:42), Amelie Canales (21:17), Fiorella Oliver (23:20), and Lydia Hochstetler (23:22) were 8-9-10-11 for the Jayettes. Running for Perry, but not having their finishes scored, were Iliana Ledesma (12th, 24:02) and Aleah Karolus (13th, 25:40).
Van Meter won the middle school boys race with 44 points, with Perry fifth of five teams at 78.
Thad Stuart was third overall in 14:34, just 18 seconds behind the winner. Also running for the Jays were Gavin Leslie (10th, 16:07), Kyeo Augustine (18th, 17:53), Diego Diaz-Cardenas (23rd, 20:14), and Angel Rodriguez-Molina (24th, 20:22).
