Woodford County cross country teams fought the oppressive heat and took home first place finishes in the Woodford County All-Comer’s meet Sept. 2 at the County Park.
Woodford’s depth added up to a sweep for the Yellow Jackets and the Tigers at the Woodford County All-Comer’s meet, with the high school boys and girls and middle school boys and girls each winning their respective team titles.
The high school girls put two runners across the finish line before anyone else could break up the Woodford pair.
Sophomore Avery Gill won the 5K in 20:52.30, with freshman Harmony Gampper right behind her. Gampper finished second in 21:02.00, just 9.70 seconds behind her teammate.
Sophomore Penny Oxnard gave Woodford three runners among the first six, placing sixth in 23:28.95.
The next three Yellow Jackets showed where Woodford’s depth began to take over.
Junior Lucy Danks finished 13th in 24:31.07, sophomore Genevieve Cox was 14th in 24:49.48 and senior Jacey Lyddane followed in 15th in 24:50.98.
Allie Twehues added an 18th-place finish in 26:23.76, while Ashlyn Dearinger and Juliana Christensen finished 21st and 22nd.
Lillian Valentine, Ava Jones and Madison Cabell completed Woodford’s runners, finishing 28th, 29th and 30th.
The high school boys didn’t have the individual winner, but they followed a similar formula on the way to their team title.
Junior Blake Porter led Woodford with a runner-up finish, completing the 5K in 18:16.61. Eighth-grader Oliver Cox gave the Yellow Jackets a second runner among the first four, placing fourth in 19:26.21.
Freshman Gavyn Burns was next in 13th at 20:56.88.
Then came one of Woodford’s tightest groups of the meet.
Clancy Fehrman finished 16th in 21:44.36, Liam Muniz was 18th in 21:47.14 and Andrew Wellman followed in 19th at 21:49.94. Just 5.58 seconds separated the three runners.
Paxton Magruder and Julian Muniz finished 24th and 25th, respectively, with Logan Cox 28th and Adrian Bowers 34th.
Colston Gampper was 50th, Sam Magruder 53rd, Nate Gresham 56th and Kenton Grider 57th. Gerrit Hall finished 60th, Link Christensen was 64th, Thomas Young 65th and Jake Crain 70th.
Woodford’s success didn’t stop with the high school races.
The middle school girls put together the most impressive pack of the meet, taking five consecutive places from second through sixth.
Emmeline Zaluski led Woodford with a runner-up finish in the 3K at 12:47.95. Willa Divine was third in 13:24.41, Kalyn Browning fourth in 13:35.01, Gentry Moore fifth in 13:45.59 and Sydney Moore sixth in 14:04.30.
Ruby Holsapple added an eighth-place finish in 14:28.10, giving Woodford six runners among the first eight.
Hadley Abbott finished 23rd, Claire Wiley was 28th and Bella Babcock was 30th. Ava Moore and Lilly Perry rounded out the Woodford field in 37th and 39th.
The middle school boys put three runners among the first four, including Woodford’s other individual victory of the meet.
Ryland Ritchie won the 3K in 10:50.28. Brody Fazio made it a one-two finish for Woodford, placing second in 11:18.81, while Zachary Dorsey was fourth in 11:45.60.
Sixth-grader Hattox Browning gave Woodford another top-10 runner, finishing eighth in 12:03.67.
The Tigers again showed their ability to run in groups with Christian Wiley finishing 12th in 12:52.68, Eli Higgins 13th in 12:57.92 and Hunter Alcorn 15th in 13:00.75.
Ben Free was 22nd, followed by Noah Klutka in 26th and Sam Appler in 27th. Galvyn Goins and Eli Meadows finished 34th and 35th, separated by less than half a second, while Sam Crawford and Patrick Bryant finished 58th and 59th.