Eagles Harriers Show Strength 

At Norfolk Catholic Invite

The O'Neill Eagles competed in the Norfolk Catholic Cross Country Invite on Sept. 12. Fifteen teams competed in the meet.

The  Eagle boys highlighted the meet with a team championship by beating the second place team by 20 points.  Leading the Eagles were individual medalists Grant Johnston placing 2^nd, Blake Johnston 7^th, and Joe Gillham 13^th. The strength to win the championship came from the fourth, fifth and sixth place runners.They included Shea Lueninghoener placing 20^th, Blake Walters 22^nd and Logan Spencer 39^th.

"The boys showed some improvement today in the race, especially our four to six varsity runners. To win championships we need to have them above everybody's number four runners. We still have things to work on and need more improvement but we are getting there," said Coach Hilker.

The O'Neill girls placed seventh  in the team standings making it in the top half. Alejandra Vergara Kersenbrock led the team with an eighth place finish which earned her a medal. The number two runner Abby Gilham placed 22^nd overall and ran a strong race. The rest of the field is as follows: Ellery Butterfield 34^th, Traci Vandersnick 48^th, Jayde Rosenkrans 51^st and Catrina Spangler 56^th.

"The girls showed a lot of improvement. Most of the team ran 30 to 90 seconds faster than last week. We will continue to get stronger. Our goal is to run more competitive every week, we are doing that," said Coach Hilker.

The junior varsity ran in a separate division. In the girls' junior varsity race the team placed fourth. Placing for the Eagles were: Cheyenne Rosenkrans 12^th, Kaylee Harvey 18^th, Nicole Babutzke 21^st, Addie Wetzel 26^th and Sarah Pribil 27^th.

During the  boys' junior varsity race Kyle Fowler medaled with a third place finish, Casey Vandersnick placed 15^th, Cody Watson 17^th, Jordan Sterns 19^th,  Zeb O'Bryan 24^th and McCoy Strong 25^th.

The Eagles will host the O'Neill Invite on Friday, Sept. 20. The Invite will have 15 teams competing this next week on the O'Neill Golf Course. The meet will start at 4 p.m. Come support the Eagles as they compete next week against some of the best teams in the state.