ERIE – The Bradford High girls cross country team opened their 2017 season with a ninth place finish at the McDowell Invitational.

Logan Sunafrank led the Lady Owls with a 17th-place finish, earning a medal.

“This was a good start to our season,” head coach Mark Kelley. “There were a lot of positives to take away from this meet and a few areas that we are going to work on. Our finish was not indicative of the way we ran. Our second runner, Hannah Lary, was directed off the course 600 meters from the finish line and she lost over 100 places. She ended up running an extra mile.”

Sunafrank finished with a time of 21:05.

“Logan has put the time and effort in since last year to be in the position she was in,” Kelley said. “She improved almost four minutes from last year and over 90 seconds from two years ago. This was a great start to the season for Logan.”

Also for the Lady Owls, Bethany Bednez was 25th in 21:47, also earning a medal. “Bethany steadily moved up throughout the race. She finished well in the last mile. She has worked hard in practice and was her workouts have paid off.”

Amanda Little was 71st in 23:29.

“Amanda got out well in the first mile and just fell back in the third mile,” Kelley said.

Emma Webster was 74th in 23:38 and Ellery Signor was 78th and 78th in 23:41. “Emma and Ellery ran very well for their first cross country race,” Kelley said. “They both went out well and steadily moved up throughout the race.”

Rounding out the Bradford High finishers was Shea Crissman, who finished 86th in 24:20.

“Shea has worked hard to come back from her surgery and this was the first step for her,” Kelley said.

Hannah Lary was 120th in 27:25.

“Hannah had a great race going and was in about 20th place,” Kelley said, “and unfortunately ran one extra loop on the course. She easily would have earned a medal. I know she will bounce back on Tuesday.”

The Lady Owls’ JV team placed fifth and were led by Conner Gracey Dalton’s (32nd, 25:49. Destinee Deitz (37th, 26:14), Alex Safran (38th, 26:24, Clare Mulcahy (51st, 27:09), Tehya Hollamby (62nd, 28:32) and Haleigh Reid (65th, 29:25) rounded out the Lady Owls’ runners.

“All of these girls ran hard,” Kelley said. “Alex improved over 90 seconds from last year.”

In the junior high race, Elisa Hayden was 88th in 14:30, Mallory Whitlow was 113th in 15:36, Cambria Race was 121st in 15:53 and Maddy Kloss was 131st in 16:53.

“This was all four of these girls first ever race,” Kelley said. “They all ran great and have worked very hard all summer long.

“I was pleased with the results of the meet. With Hannah up near Logan, we would have a 43-second spread between our first three runners. Our four-to-six runners were separated by 16 seconds. Our goal for Tuesday will be to close that gap between those two packs.”

Bradford High travels to Kane on Tuesday for a meet with the Wolves and St. Marys.

“We will have a challenge on Tuesday racing St. Marys,” Kelley said. “We just need to focus on improving with each meet. We have a 10-day break between our next two meets so that will give us a chance to train and prepare for our home invitational.”