GRANGER — Baxter senior Lauren Ratliff and junior Logan Berg were the first runners to hit the finish line in the girls’ and boys’ 5K races at the Woodward-Granger Cross Country Invitational on Aug. 27.
Ratliff was one of four Bolts to finish in the top 10 of the girls’ race, and her winning time was clocked at 21 minutes, 39 seconds.
Berg won his first-ever high school cross country race, and set a new bench mark for his own school record with a time of 16:54.
The Baxter girls were second as a team despite four top-10 finishes. The Bolts scored 44 points and trailed host Woodward-Granger by four points. Greene County was third with 51 and Coon Rapids-Bayard had 84 in fourth.
Neither Baxter team had the services of either of the Thomson twins.
Senior Brenna Thomson missed the girls’ race because of an illness.
The girls also competed without varsity runner and sophomore Kailee Conradi as well as a few other girls who could push for a varsity spot. They are out because of injuries.
Senior Ian Thomson continued to miss action for the boys because of an injury.
The girls couldn’t overcome the loss of Brenna Thomson.
Ratliff won the race by nearly a full minute. After Ratliff was freshmen Lilie Vansice in fifth with a time of 24:12 and juniors Holly Jessen and Maya Phelps in ninth and 10th, respectively.
Jessen finished in 24:46 and Phelps crossed the finish line in 24:50.
The final two varsity runners were junior Bryn Schultheis and senior Piper Larson, who finished in 30th and 31st, respectively.
On the boys’ side, Berg finished his race at Jester Park more than a minute ahead of the next best finisher. Senior Josh Bruntz also placed in the top 10 as he was sixth with a time of 18:43.
Sophomore Sean Finch and senior McCade Gowdy came across in back-to-back positions. Finch was 16th with a time of 21:02 and Gowdy was 17th in 21:14.
The final three varsity runners were junior Will Hitchler in 29th, junior Christian Brandt in 36th and senior Derrick Klemme in 42nd.
The Baxter boys were third in the team standings. Saydel won the meet with 28 points. The Eagles put all five scoring runners in the top 10.
Woodward-Granger was second with 55 points, and the Bolts scored 65 points in third. Greene County was fourth with 77 points.
The Bolts compete at Colfax-Mingo at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 6 in Colfax.
