Full 2013 Jackson Heights Cross Country Invite Results -- click here

It was a final tune up for some area cross country teams as area teams and runners competed against each other at the Jackson Heights Invite.

At the end of the day it was the Royal Valley Panther boys and Jefferson County North girls coming out on top as the best teams. While, Nemaha Valley and JCN finished second and third on the boys side and Royal Valley and Nemaha Valley girls took home second and third, respectively.

In the boy’s competition the top team of the day, Royal Valley was led by four top 10 finishes on the day with Blake Bowden leading the charge behind his third place finish with a time of 18:15. Bryce Golightley and Arrow Levier followed notching sixth and seventh place finishes respectively with times of 18:41 and 18:47. While, Patrick Broxterman rounded out the top 10 finishes in the boys competition taking home 10th place for the Panthers (19:03).

Second place boys squad, Nemaha Valley was led by Colin Lierz who continued a strong season finishing second place with a time of 17:52. His teammate, Mikeal Sperfslage registered a top 10 time, also on the day posting a time of 18:54 to take home eighth place for the Raiders.

The JCN Chargers finished third place as a team but took home the top individual performance of the Jackson Heights Invite on the boy’s side. Devon Wilson ran his way to a first place finish winning by 24 seconds on the day with a time of 17:28. Fellow Charger, Bryson Weishaar notched a ninth place finish behind a time of 19:01 for JCN.

Both Onaga and Jackson Heights each had a top 10 finisher on the day, also as they took to the course one last time before Regionals. For the Buffalos it was Michael Eisenbarth leading the way placing fourth behind a time of 18:23 and Seth Holliday of Jackson Heights followed him in fifth place with a time of 18:34.

On the girls side the JCN lady Chargers notched their first place team performance with a pair of top five finishes. Carissa McAfee continued a strong season racing her way to a time of 17:02 to take home second place, while Laramie Leakey posted a time of 17:28 to notch fourth place.

Royal Valley, who finished second as a team finished the day with the most top 10 finishers in the girls competition as Kaytlyn Gooderl, Sarah McKinney and Deasha Stewart took home sixth (18:04), seventh (18:21) and tenth (18:44) places, respectively. 

The lone other school to notch multiple top 10 finishers was Onaga with freshman, Maggie Revell and Alexis VanDonge placing third and fifth with times of 17:22 and 17:49.

Riverside, Nemaha Valley and Jackson Heights each saw a runner grab top 10 finishers on the day's competition. For the Cyclones it was Kaile Elder taking home eighth place (18:23), while Nemaha Valley Raider, Annie Davis placed ninth (18:31).

The top girls performance of the day came at the hands of Jackson Heights Cobra, Kaitlynn Little on her home course posting a time of 16:36 to take first place by 26 seconds.

With the regular season races in the books teams and area runners have their minds set on one thing, that being Regionals this Saturday (October 26th), as they try and compete for a spot at the State competition.