WINTERSET — All levels of cross country was in action at the Winterset Invitational Tuesday, with Perry sending 15 Bluejays and seven Jayettes on 3.1 mile circuits. Two-mile junior high races were also held, with three Jays and five Jayettes running for Perry. All races were unscored.
Traditionally seven runners compete for a varsity squad, with the top five scoring. Tuesday’s unlimited entries saw 15 Bluejays off and running at the gun.
Zachary Thompson crossed in 19 minutes, 12 seconds as the first Perry finisher, with Eli Noble (20:09), Zach Stewart (20:40), Mario Cruz (20:46) and Aaron Lockwood (21:06) the first five while Ben Stika (22:46) and Gabe Ridnour (23:16) completed the top seven.
Miguel Gonzalez (24:15), Jacob Prombo (24:24) and Beau Nelson (25:19) also ran for Perry, as did Collin Malmberg (26:01), Chase Archer (27:07), Alex Thompson (27:39), Kyle Lockwood (27:44) and Devin Carrillo (28:55).
The Jayette septet was led by sophomore Hannah Peterson, who stepped across the line in 26:05. Julissa Calderon (26:15) was close behind, with Jaky Castaneda (27:28), Sophie Prombo (28:09) and Angela Hernandez (28:30) in tow. Jocelyn Fuentes (29:32) and Darian McCord (30:29) also competed for the Perry girls.
Eighth-grader Tanner Burgin finished in 14:19 for the Bluejays, with seventh-grader Gannon Meis a second back, at 14:20, while eighth-grader Cole Nelson crossed in 15:08.
The junior high Jayettes were led by eighth-grader Jaylene Karolus, who matched Burgin in finishing in 14:19. Four grade seven Jayettes were in action for the first time, with Lydia Olejniczak (14:38), Hailey Peterson (16:20), Pauline Galindo (16:26) and Joanna Ubaldo (20:03) all experiencing their first races.
Perry will be in action tonight (Spet. 7) at the Greene County Invitational. The meet is held at Spring Lake Park, located north of U.S. 30 between Jefferson and Grand Junction.
The Perry harriers will then visit Ballard Sept. 11 before taking a week off from competition until running at Newton Sept. 19.
