The Unioto boys cross country team posted a perfect team score of 15, symbolized by their five scoring runners finishing in the top five, to run away with the Scioto Valley Conference championship on Saturday at Zane Trace.
The Shermans ran an average time of 17:19, compared to the Mustangs turning in 18:32. To put that in perspective, third-place Huntington followed Westfall in a distant third in 20:35.
Westfall had its five scoring runners finish in the top 19 to take second in the five-school field with 51 points.
Leading runners for the Mustangs included Brody Clark (eighth, 18:15.90); Henry Barnes (ninth, 18:17.80); Josh Trapp (10th, 18:26.50); Trent Gardner (14th, 18:33.10) and Mason Barnes (19th, 19:10.10).
“Brody Clark ran the race of his life,” Westfall coach Austin Ridenour observed. “He ran a lifetime best time while getting his first All-SVC honors by finishing 8th. Henry and Josh ran strong for us right behind him and Trent was able to get All-SVC after missing it last year by one second.
“We had a couple other guys run lifetime bests today, as well.”
Unioto swept the conference meet by winning the five-school girls race with a team score of 33.
Zane Trace and Westfall each followed with 70, with the Pioneers winning the sixth runner tiebreaker.
Top runners for the Mustangs included Caitlyn Shipley (fourth, 21:19.00); Anay Sierra (fifth, 21:52.50); Gabby Henry (14th, 24:13.20); Natalie Yates (25th, 26:20.90) and Reese Paudicz (28th, 26:35.10).
“Our girls had a tough break tying with Zane Trace but losing the tiebreaker and getting third as a team instead of second,” Ridenour said. “I was really happy seeing Gabby Henry being able to get All-SVC finishing in 14th place.”
Westfall travels next Saturday to Rio Grande for the Southeast District championships.
“If our guys and girls can run a good race on a tough course like Zane Trace, then I’m excited to see how we run at Rio Grande next weekend,” Ridenour said.
