Another positive meet

Three Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn cross country runners placed in the Top 20 at the H-M-S Invitational. The meet was held Sept. 19 at Sanborn Golf and Country Club.

Top finishers for the H-M-S varsity boys were George Vargas and Bryce Dodge. Vargas just missed the Top 10, placing 11th in a time of 19:26. Dodge came in 17th while running the course in 20:32.

Also competing were Aiden Bush, 30th, 22:52; Damian Dodge, 39th, 24:39; and Blaine Finster, 41st, 25:39.

As a team, H-M-S finished sixth with 124 points. Sioux Central won the title with 59 points, George-Little Rock/Central Lyon was second with 65 and West Lyon was third with 85. Also competing were Hinton 104, Alta-Aurelia 118, Trinity Christian 130 and South O'Brien 180.

H-M-S could not field a full girls' team but did have a Top 20 finisher. Lexi Croatt placed 17th in a time of 24:25, while Gracie Knobloch was 24th, 25:27; Juliana Pasillas, 37th, 28:31; and Clara Funk, 39th, 30:32.

"It was another positive meet with several athletes putting up either season or personal bests," said Hawk coach Kirsten Taylor.

Girls' team scores were Alta-Aurelia 26, GLR/CL 57, West Lyon 67, Sioux Central 87 and Hinton 115.

Having reached the halfway point of the season, the Hawks will be working hard to prepare for meets at South O'Brien on Sept. 29 and G-LR/CL on Oct. 6.

"We are still ramping up in practices before we begin a taper phase in a couple of weeks," Taylor said. "I'm excited to see where this second half of the season will take us."