WEST MIDDLESEX - Another day, another rainy cross country meet for the Youngsville Eagles.
Despite the wet conditions, both the boys and girls teams ran well against some of the best competition District 10 has to offer at Saturday's Big Red Invitational. The Lady Eagles placed a strong fourth while the boys were 12th overall in the 14-team field.
"All in all, it was a very good day," said Youngsville coach Ray Bennett. "The varsity boys improved over their last outing, running like before - pretty close together - and this time faster. (Bobby) Bower led the field across the line with a 20:26. A good time for a slow day."
Bower was the 51st runner to cross the line during the race and Aaron Hoover was next, finishing 62nd in 20:50. Collin Lehnan clocked in at 21:02 followed by Zach Ishman in 21:14, Gregg Yost in 21:24, Chester Ciukaj in 22:56 and Nathan Carr in 22:57. There were a total of 94 runners in the boys field.
The girls team was especially impressive with six runners earning medals. Junior Abbie Swartzbaugh was the first Lady Eagle to finish in 16th. Swartzbaugh's time was 23:00. Also earning medals were Hannah Morris (24th, 23:45), Katelyn Maille (26th, 23:54), Kellie Lindstrom (30th, 24:18), Lydia Swartzbaugh (34th, 24:34) and Mallory Eastman (38th, 25:04). The top 40 in each race medaled.
"The girls ran another strong race," said Bennett. "The big changes for the week were Kellie Lindstrom stepping into her true racing form and Hannah Morris starting to figure this distance out.
"I'm pretty happy with where the teams are right now" added Bennett. "We're learning together and working together and getting stronger each week."
The Eagles will try to continue that trend Tuesday when they visit Corry to compete with the Beavers and Harbor Creek Huskies.