ADEL — The Perry cross country team must have been wondering if they were even going to have a season this year. Already starting later than other schools by the vagaries of their schedule, the Bluejay and Jayette harriers then had to endure several cancellations due to wet weather.
Sunny skies and unusually warm weather for mid-September Monday allowed the Perry teams to at long last compete in a meet for only the second time this season, with Hillcrest Country Club the host site for the ADM Invite.
The Perry girls were fourth in a seven-team field with 123 points. Ballard scored a near-perfect 17 points to easily win the competition, with Norwalk second at 51 and ADM third at 92.
Ballard’s Ellie Twedt, Caitlin Maher and Meg Rietz were 1-2-3 in 20 minutes, 24 seconds, 21:14 and 22:12, respectively.
Jayette freshman Jaylene Karolus was eighth in 22:44 to pace Perry. Kailey Crawford and Molly Lutmer were 20-26 in 25:15 and 26:45, with Kennedy Tunink 33rd in 27:57 and Cris Gomez 36th in 28:49.
Hannah Peterson (40th, 30:36) and Angela Hernandez (42nd, 31:24) also ran for the varsity septet.
Carlisle (26), Ballard (74) and ADM (75) claimed the top three boys team spots in a 10-squad race. Perry was seventh with 180 points.
Nate Mueller and Ethan Juergens crossed in 17:15 and 17:52 to seize the top two spots for ADM, with Carlisle’s Carter Logue third in 17:56.
Mohamed Abdelnabi finished 25th in 20:14 as the top Bluejay racer. Eduardo Sanchez crossed 31st in 20:46 and Mario Cruz 33rd in 20:50, with Johnathan Castro 39th in 21:12 and Hayden McFarland 52nd in 22:17. Varsity spots were also filled by Eli Noble (55th, 22:24) and Ethan Miller (59th, 23:18).
Full results have been posted.
Perry will run at Guthrie Center Thursday before hosting the Leon Fox Invitational September 27 at the Perry Golf and Country Club.
