WeBo girls, Lebanon boys take titles at Lebanon Invite

Sep. 17—LEBANON — It was a near perfect day for the Western Boone girls cross country team on Thursday afternoon at the Lebanon Invite.

The Lady Stars had the top-4 finishers and placed all of their top-7 in the top-10 en route to winning the invite with 17 points. Lebanon was second with 47.

"I was really impressed with our girls today," Western Boone head coach Keith Lively said. "They worked really hard, ran really relaxed and really well. I am proud of what they were able to do today."

Audrey Knoper ran away with the individual title, completing the course in 19:52.7.

Katheryn Rutherford was second in 21:20.0, with Sydney Haag third in 22:24.9 and Hannah Haag fourth in 22:36.3.

The final scoring Star was Bailey Haag in seventh in 23:11.2, with Samantha Jones (eighth, 23:20.0) and Naomi Reid (ninth, 23:24.3) also earning top-10 finishes.

The Western Boone girls have had a fantastic season to date, ranked in the top-60 of all teams and fifth in the small school class.

Lively said as the season has gone on, the team just continues to get stronger.

"I think as the season is going on, their confidence is building and their physical capacity is building," Lively said. "I think it is all coming together at the right time. Right now, we are just trying to build the confidence to put in that solid effort and competing against some of the other top teams we will see later in the year."

The Lebanon girls placed second.

Kloe Coyle led the team, placing fifth in a time of 22:46.0. Jaleigha Howard was sixth in 23:07.0.

Gracie Stoller placed in the top-10, finishing 10th in 24:37.6, with Maleigha Howard coming in 11th in 25:17.7.

Dana Wittenberg was 17th in 27:14, with Sarah Keith coming in 18th (27:16.0) and Elektra Moore placing 21st in 29:54.0.

"The girls are still working to fill that void and see where their place is heading into conference and sectionals," Lebanon head coach Shelley West said. "We are still battling that and working on the mental aspects of that so we will be ready to go. We are getting there."

The Lebanon boys rested a lot of their top runners, but still came away with a dominant win.

The Tigers scored 19 points, and topped Clinton Central.

"Our 5-7 runners have been battling back-and-forth all year, and this was a big confidence builder for them," West said. "We wanted them to get out there and run well, and they did."

Aydan Wetter came away as the winner, finishing in 19:09.8.

Abram hale was second in 19:54.9, with Dylan Krehely fifth in 20:12. Beau Burgin was ninth in 21:08.2, with Carter Hammons rounding out the scorers in 11th in 21:26.6.

Eli Taylor was 12th in 21:47.4, with Aleks Warkentien 13th in 22:18.3.

"When you can come out on top like tonight, with some of the big meets we have coming up, it gives you confidence," West said. "We want to build confidence every chance we can."

Western Boone didn't have a complete boys team, but the four that ran competed well. Lane Hardee led the group with a fourth-place finish in 20:09.6, with Carter Hanna placing sixth in 20:27.5.

Graham Cavins was eighth in 21:03.5, and Brawn Puckett was 14th in 22:44.8.

"They ran confidently today," Lively said. "They were in contact with other runners at the end of the race and had a good sprint at the end. They are building a lot of confidence as well."

Before the race, Lebanon honored their seniors for their contributions to the program.

West said the seniors have been valuable assets to the team.

"This group of seniors has done a lot," West said. "Murphy Adams and Abbi Coyle have totally led the team, broke record and pushed us to a new level. They did a really good job. The boys side has been great leaders too. They will be missed."

Both teams will be at Northview Christian Church and competing in the FlashRock Invite on Saturday.

The meet features some of the top teams in the state.

"We are running in the championship race for the girls, so that will give them some great competition to build them up and show where they need to be in the post-season," West said. "For the boys, they will have some great competition and that will keep on making us stronger."

For Western Boone, Knoper will be running in the championship race.

With big goals in mind for the post-season, Lively said this will give her a good measuring stick for where she is at.

"We want her getting comfortable with seeing that level of competition," Lively said. "Then when we get into the tournament, she is ready to go, and Katheryn and Sydney and the other girls as well. We just want to be ready to go and represent Western Boone well at these meets."

Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.