The great performances from area cross country teams continued this season as the Holton Invitational was stacked with area teams competing from the Northeast Kansas League, Big Seven League and KCA League.

Leading the charge was the Hiawatha Red Hawks on the day as they completed the sweep taking home both the boys and girls team crown on the day. In the boys competition the Red Hawks registered the win by 40 points over second Royal Valley and Jefferson County North took home third place. While, in the girls competition the team point margin was closer as the Red Hawks took first by 10 points over ACCHS, while Jefferson County North finished in third place.

On the girls side Hiawatha was led again by defending 3A champ junior, Jordan Puvogel who took home first place again this year finishing with a time of 16:36.00, 12 seconds better than second place. Jordan was joined in the top 10 by a pair of her teammates as freshman, Molly Kettler took home fourth (18:24.00) and sophomore, Kailey Davis finished tenth (19:17.00). The top performances didn't stop there for the Red Hawks as their other four girls medaled, also all finishing in the top 20. Freshman, Makenna Gilpin took home 15th place, while Katie Rosa, MyKah Barnes and Joda Rosa finished 18th, 19th and 20th, respectively for Hiawatha.

Second and third place teams in ACCHS and Jefferson County North girls were both paced by three girls finishing in the top 20 of the competition.

For the Tigers it was sophomore, Madison Bissell leading the way as she tallied a third place finish behind a time of 18:12.00. Fellow Tiger sophomore, Rebekah Scholz finished in the top 10, also notching an eighth place finish (18:57.00), while Maddison Forbes took home the other top 20 finish for the Tigers placing 14th.

The lady Chargers of JCN were led by sophomore, Carissa McAfee who took home fifth place with a time of 18:33.00. Her teammate’s senior, Laramie Leakey and freshman, Julie Schrick placed 12th and 13th place respectively.

Both Atchison and Royal Valley had a pair of top 20 individual performances in the girls competition on the day. For the lady Red, it was Sarah Jaloma challenging for first place as she finished 12 seconds behind first place to take home second with a time of 16:48.00; her teammate, Lucy Newkirk placed just outside of the top 10 taking home 11th place. For the Panthers senior, Sarah McKinney lead the way placing ninth behind a time of 19:12.00, while Kaytlyn Goodrel took home a 17th place finishing for Royal Valley.

Jackson Heights was the only other area school to have a top 20 finisher and that was junior, Kaitlynn Little who placed in the top 10 with a time of 18:49.00 taking sixth place.

In the boys competition seven area teams had at least one top 20 finisher on the day’s competition. It was the Hiawatha Red Hawks once again leading the way as six Red Hawks tallied top 20 finishes, with three finishing in the top 10. Hiawatha was led by sophomores, Brandt Houk and Jesse Quinn who placed third and fourth, respectively notching times of 19:06.00 and 19:08.00. Junior, Beau Oldridge took home a ninth place finish behind a time of just over 20 minutes (20:02.00). In his first race of the year senior, Tyler Boeckman placed 11th for the Red Hawks, while Brendan Steele and Baxter DeFore took home 17th and 18th places.

Royal Valley was right behind Hiawahta in top 20 finishers notching five on the day as they were led by senior, Bryce Golightley who finished seventh place (19:42.00), while Blake Bowden joined him in the top 10, taking tenth (20:05.00). Patrick Broxterman had the third best performance for the Panthers taking 15th place, while Arrow Levier and Kwaki Spoonhunter rounded out the top 20 performances taking 19th and 20th for the Panthers.

Third place team Jefferson County North took home two top 20 individual performances but had the best individual performance for an area competitor on the day as junior, Devon Wilson notched a time of 18:51.00 good for second place. His teammate, Brysen Weishaar took home a 16th place on the day for the Chargers.

Holton, Atchison, Perry Lecompton and Jackson Heights each also had a top 20 performance on the night in the boy’s competition. For the Wildcats it was senior, Dalton Colhouer leading the way with a fifth place finish posting a time of 19:40.00. The Redman were paced on the day by Justin Witmer who took home eighth place behind a time of 19:59.00. For the Kaws, Robert Parker took home 14th place while for the Cobras it was a 13th place performance by Seth Holliday.

As many teams start to get into the groove of the cross country season, the Northeast Kansas area looks to be one of the most competitive in the state housing perhaps some of the best runners.

Full results from the 2013 Holton Cross Country Invitational -- click here