Jackson cross country sweeps at Cape Central Invite

The Jackson cross country team won both boys’ and girls’ 5000-meter varsity race at the Cape Central Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 16, at the Osage Centre.

Each team’s top five finishers are counted in the scoring, meaning the lowest combined number wins. The Indians had five boys finish in the top 10. Bryce Gentry won the boys’ race with a time of 16:40.50, followed by Jack Hutson who finished third (17:35.40), Zach Brazel finished fifth (17:36.20), Kenyan Kelpe finished seventh (18:08.90), and Lane McBryde (18:19.40) and Chase Wendel (18:21.50) rounded out the top 10 for Jackson.

Brock Hobeck finished 11th (18:25.80) and helped Oak Ridge place third, ahead of Cape Central and behind Jackson and Northwest. Cohen Hahs (18:37.00) and Ty Wilson (18:41.20) finished at 15th and 16th to boost the Blue Jays.

Maverick Gerard finished highest among the hosting Tigers, which placed fourth as a team, at 21st place with a time of 18:57.00. The sophomore was less than a second ahead of Woodland’s Hayden Vangennip (18:57.90) and a second and a half ahead of Scott City’s Jordan Depree (18:58.50).

All five Jackson girls finished in the top 10 with three in the top four. Annika Barks won the race with a time of 20:37.10, followed by Emma Niedbalski, who finished second with a time of 21:03.50. Lynlee LaValle finished fourth (21:50.80), Anika Stephens finished sixth (21:53.20) and Kalissa Smith rounded out the scoring for Jackson at ninth place (23:01.40).

Emily Marriott took third place (21:23.10) to lead the Tigers to a second place finish. Scott City senior Logan Schiwitz finished in seventh place with a time of 22:12.20.

The next local cross country event takes place at Oak Ridge High School on Tuesday, Sept. 19.