RIDGWAY — Hannah Lary of Bradford placed seventh out of 116 girls with a time of 22:13 at the Ridgway Cross Country Invitational.
Sera Mazza of Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy was the overall winner in 20:16.
“This was the best I have seen Hannah run,” Bradford coach Mark Kelley said. “She went out conservatively in the first mile and was about 12th and steadily moved up in the second and third mile. Hannah had a great week of workouts and was well rested for this meet. She was the second AA runner to cross the finish line which sets her up great to get one of those individual qualifying spots at districts in three weeks.”
Bethany Bednez was 19th in 23:01.
“Bethany continues to have a great year. The course was very wet and muddy so the time is not indicative of the race that Bethany had. She was the fifth AA runner to cross the line so she also in a good position to get an individual qualifying spot at Districts.”
Alex Safran was 82nd in 27:43.
“Alex had a really good week of practice and followed up her last meet with another good race.”
Also participating in the girls race on Saturday was Smethport’s Jenna Gregory. Gregory finished in ninth with a time of 22:29.
The Lady Owls junior high team continued their impressive season winning the team title in the junior high race with 35 points. Dubois was second with 37 points.
“This was a very exciting race and the girls really stepped up. I knew it was going to be a close race with Dubois and there were some close races that determined the final score.
Korie Dixon was second in 11:28.
“Korie was leading at the mile mark but lost a shoe about 1200m into the race and had to run the last 1.25 mile with one shoe. She will get another chance to race that girl from Dubois in two weeks.”
Caitlyn Taylor was sixth in 12:04. “Caitlyn made a big impact by beating two girls from Dubois.”
Aubrey Cruz was eighth in 12:20, beating a Dubois runner by .2 seconds.
“This made a huge difference in the score. That one point would have forced a tie. It was more impressive that Aubrey carried one of her shoes for almost half the race, after losing it earlier in the race.”
Elsewhere, Elisa Hayden was 13th in 12:42, Kali O’Neil was 16th in 12:58, Leila Bines was 20th in 13:07, Sophie Cornelius was 33rd in 13:54, Jaylee Koppenhaver was 39th in 15:04, Mallory Whitlow was 40th in 15:10, Brynn Haviland was 47th in 15:43, Keira Cleveland was 53rd in 16:30 and Kaylee Dennison was 58th in 17:29.
“This was the first time we have won the junior high race since 2009. All of the girls ran great races given the sloppy conditions especially during their race.
“This was a good day for everyone. We have a nice break since our last meet which gave us some much-needed rest. We were not running on tired legs and got some good workouts in this week. We have two weeks until the junior high championships and three weeks until Districts.”
The Lady Owls return to action next Saturday at the Cuba-Rushford Invitational.
