It's one of the biggest competitions on the year in the amount of teams competing at it as a multitude of area teams squared off at the Horton cross country Invitational on Thursday (October 3rd).

Eight different area schools had at least one girl or boy finish the day with a top 10 finish in competition, while on the team side five of the top three spots between girls and boys went to area teams.

Leading the charge on the day with a first place girls team performance and second place boys team performance was the Hiawatha Red Hawks, who continued to put forth great finishes in competition on the season. On the girls side of competition it was junior, Jordan Puvogel leading the charge notching another first place finish with a time of 16:48, but was challenged by Atchison's, Sarah Jaloma who took second place just one-second behind Jordan with time of 16:49. Joining, Puvogel for Hiawatha in the top 10 was freshman, Molly Kettler (18:15) who took home a sixth place finish, while sophomore, Kailey Davis placed 11th (18:59).

The second place girls team in Pleasant Ridge was the only other girls squad to register a pair of top 10 finishers as junior, Kristina Silvers lead the charge for the Rams finishing fourth (18:02) and senior, Rachel Hattok placed ninth (18:48).

Tigers of ACCHS took home another top three spot this year taking third place as a team with sophomore, Madison Bissell leading the way taking fifth place with a time of 18:14. The Sabetha Bluejays flew into a fourth place team performance with senior, Brianna Gruber continuing her strong performance on the season placing eighth with a time of 18:20.

Jackson Heights and Royal Valley were the other two schools to have girl’s notch top 10 individual performances. For the Cobras it was junior, Kaitlynn Little taking home their top performance placing seventh (18:19), while the Panther sophomore, Kaytlyn Gooderal finished tenth (18:53).

On the boy’s side of competition, Pleasant Ridge Ram senior, Tony Weber ran away with the competition taking home first place by 1:11, registering a time of 18:02 on the day. Following, Weber was Hiawatha Red Hawk sophomore, Brandt Houk who raced his way to a second place finish with a time of 19:13, helping his team grab a second place finish, behind West Platte who took first place as a team.

Third place as a team was picked up by the Sabetha Bluejays as they were lead freshman, Keegan Cox who took home third place individually with a time of 19:18, while Mitchell Lierz nabbed a top 10 finish, also for the Bluejays placing ninth with a time of 19:51.

Wetmore Cardinals followed up Sabetha in the team finishes notching fourth place as senior, Josh Ballenger lead the way with a fifth place individual performance, posting a time of 19:34. His teammate freshman, Aaron Achten finished right outside of the top 10 taking 11th (19:51.20).

Royal Valley was the lone other area school to have a boys competitor come out with a top 10 finish on the day as senior, Bryce Golightley posted a time of 19:48.10 to place seventh on the day.

In all it was multiple great individual and team performances at the Horton Invitational as teams prepare for the final stretch of the regular season action, before Regional action on October 26th.

Full 2013 Horton Cross Country Invite Results -- click here