On a rainy Senior Night, the Bradford girls cross country team split Tuesday’s tri-meet with Punxsutawney and Kane.
The Lady Owls recognized their two seniors — Elisa Hayden and Abbigail Schleicher — ahead of the varsity meet. The duo has seen a lot in its time with the program, Coach Mark Kelley said, and has been influential in its rebuild.
“They have come from a team that had three-to-four girls on it and having to get soccer and volleyball players to have a full team at districts, to a team on the brink of a district title,” Kelley said. “ The success that we have over the next three-to-four years is directly attributed to Elisa and Abbi sticking with this team and never giving up. They have been true leaders the last two years.”
Bradford defeated Kane, 17-42, while narrowly falling to Punxsy, 27-28. This was an improvement from a meet against Punxsy two weeks prior, when Bradford fell, 22-37.
Jordan Hicks of Punxy won the race in a time of 21:37. Bradford’s Korie Dixon and Caitlyn Taylor came across the line in second and third, both with a time of 22:18.
“(Dixon) and (Taylor) came back from a hard race Saturday to run a very smooth race,” Kelley said. “This was a workout for them today so I know they will be ready to race for the next few weeks of invites.”
Leila Bines was 5th in 23:42, while Schleicher was seventh, Mayla Smith was 10th and Hayden was 12th.
“(Bines) fought with Punxy’s third runner the last mile and ran hard the entire race,” Kelley said. “She is going to be ready to go in the next few weeks. (Schleicher), (Smith) and (Hayden) really pushed in the last mile. I’m excited to see these three run in the next month with some rest.”
Jennifer Bouquin was 17th, Joleen Weimer was 18th and Madison Vinelli was 21st. “(Bouquin) and (Weimer) have become very consistent recently and (Vinelli) improved almost two minutes from the last time we ran at home.”
The Fretz Middle School team completed an undefeated dual meet season with a pair of victories, led by Kendyl Cruz’s first-place finish in 11:19.
Rylann Terwilliger was second in a personal-best 11:57. Brianna Haven was third in 12:05, Anna Benedict was fifth in 12:21, Addison Benson was sixth in 12:31, Jackie Sipko was eighth in a personal best 12:47, Brooke Clouser was ninth in 12:49, Samantha McCaul was 10th in 12:57, Olivia Funk was 11th in a personal best 13:19, Madison Ronan was 13th in a personal best 14:08, Regan Dillaman was 19th in 16:42 and Shyla Williams was 24th in 20:40.
The Lady Owls return to competition Saturday at the McQuaid Invitational in Rochester, New York.
“The wet conditions of (Tuesday’s) course made for some slower times but everyone is improving with each and every meet,” Kelley said. “We have 4.5 weeks until Districts and we only have invitationals left until Districts. This gives us a good opportunity to get some rest along with quality workouts.”
