The West Liberty-Salem varsity girl's cross country team took home runner-up honors at the 30th annual Buck Creek Invitational on Saturday.

The Big Orange improves its record to 58-17 on the season.

Leading the way for the Big Orange was senior standout Hillary Seely with a 7th place finish.  Senior Kelsie Markin was 20th followed by teammate Courtney Karg 21st. (Photos included.)

Other finishers: Heather Bumbalough (33^rd), Alexis Smith (40^th), Sarah Murphy (52^nd), Virginia Csillag (79^th), Amanda Williams (88^th), Brenna Hayes (91^st), and Evan Bailey (125^th).

WLS is back in action next Saturday at the Anna Rocket Invitational.

The WLS Jr. High girls cross country team continued its winning ways, placing first out of 9 teams at Buck Creek.

The Big Orange placed 7 runners in the top 25 to improve its record to 83-1 on the season.

The trio of Meghan Vogel in 1st place, Jasmine Smith in 3rd, and Shawnda Henault in 4th led the Big Orange.

Other finishers: Jordan Smith (14^th), Sarah Williams (16^th), Savanna Shipp (19^th), Addy Hartsel (25^th), Erica Cooper (27^th), Erin Barrett (43^rd), Vianka Rivera (64^th), Catherine Williams (65^th), Lindsay Hostetler (83^rd), and Grace Edwards (90^th).

The Big Orange High School boys finished in 9^th place out of 16 teams.

They are now 32-76 on the season.

The top finisher for the Sr. boys was Matt Vogel in 17^th place.

Other finishers: Brandon Shiveley (27^th), Michael Yoder (52^nd), Zak Teets (70^th), Kelby Wallace (75^th), Zane Esch (88^th), Zak Esch (121^st), and Ben Grooms (169^th).
 
The boys next meet is at Anna on Saturday.
 
The WLS Middle School Boys picked up their 6th win of the season, improving their season record to 90-10.
 
Aaron Scott in 3^rd, J.J. Birt in 4^th, Austin Kensler in 12^th, and D.J. Patterson in 13^th turned in top performances.

Other finishers: Chris Buschur (35^th) and Conner Kard (42^nd).

The Jr. boys will also run next Saturday at Anna. 

The Bellefontaine Middle School boys and girls cross country teams competed at the Buck Creek Invitational on Saturday.

The Lady Chiefs finished 3^rd out of 9 teams.

Leading the way for BMS were Kinsey Harman in 21^st, Alyssa Strickland in 22^nd, Destiny Brown in 29^th, Sierra McGranahan in 33^rd, and Amber Jones in 35^th.

Other finishers: Katie Vetorino (43^rd) and Emily Carothers (45^th).

The BMS boys finished 9^th out of 10 teams.

The Chiefs were lead by Cody Proffitt in 18^th.

Other finishers: Patrick Tarasiewicz (41^st), Collen Pulfer (61^st), Blake Olson (68^th), and Landyn Butler (76^th).

Both BMS teams will compete at the Anna Rocket Invitational next Saturday.

The Indian Lake varsity girls finished 3rd out of 7 teams at the Firebird Invitational at Kettering Fairmont.

Leading the way for the girls with top 20 finishes were sophomore Rachel Watt as the overall winner in the race, junior Taylor Norviel in 14th, sophomore Emily Gardner in 17^th, freshman Ashley Albright in 18th, and freshman Kayla Beltz in 19^th.

Other finishers: Senior Aubrey Gardner (28^th), senior Sarah Bell (35^th), sophomore Robyn Zwiebel (38^th), sophomore Melissa Bell (48^th), and freshman Ashley Kawalec (55^th).

The following Lady Lakers competed in the Div. I, II & III open race, which had a total of 261 runners in the open race: Sophomore Haley Tron (182^nd) and sophomore Shelby Oda (229^th).

The boy's team finished 7^th out of 7 teams.

Leading the way for the boys was sophomore Neill Schwieterman with a 43^rd place finish.

Other finishers: Senior Robb Long (48^th), junior Jacob Bickham (50^th), senior Kendall Sullivan (68^th), sophomore Nick Bozman (69^th), and senior Chase Szima (71^st).

The Lakers will be back in action Saturday as they compete at Anna in The Anna Invite.   

The Indian Lake Middle School Cross Country teams participated in the 26^th  Neal Charske Firebird Invitational held at Indian Ripple Park behind Fairmont-Kettering Schools.

Ericka Embry (holding trophy) and her teammates pose after taking 2nd at the Firebird Invitational.

Leading the Lady Lakers was Ericka Embry, placing 8^th out of 138 girls.

Other finishers: Sydney Bollinger (41^st), Allysia Altick (43^rd), Cortney Stroope (63^rd), Bayley Miller (79^th), Amber Short (105^th), Karen Miller (112^th), and Brandi Niebuer (114^th).

Klay Nichols (left) and Bradley McInitire show off their winning ribbons after Saturday's race.

Klay Nichols finished 2^nd behind his teammate with a time of 13:20.