Western Middle School Cross Country Teams Start Strong at Meckley’s Invitational The Boys and Girls Western Middle School Cross Country Teams opened the season with solid showings at the Meckley’s Invitational, finishing third and fourth respectively in the meet. Joshua J.J. Irvin (7th) finished fourth overall with a personal best time of 12:11.43 to lead the Panthers. Ben Hammond (8th) was the next highest finisher for Western in 13th place with a time of 12:56.07, also a personal best. Liam Rivera (8th) and Titus Clanton (8th) rounded out the scoring for Western, finishing 24th and 27th respectively. Rivera finished at 13:35.67 and Clanton finished with a time of 13:42.28. Sam Decker (6th) made his career debut in cross country with a 29th place finish and a time of 13:54.28. The Western Boys finished with 67 team points, 29 points behind 1st place Adrian and 20 points behind 2nd place Clinton. For the Lady Panthers, Laila Rotich (8th) finished 9th overall with a time of 14:52.33 to lead Western. Adalynn Newton (8th) took 11th place with a time of 14:59.45. Abigail Jacobson (7th) ran a time of 16:20.48 to take 37th place and Hayden Blanchard (6th) made her inaugural cross country run with a time of 16:56.38 to finish 47th. The Western Girls finished with 86 team points, four points behind 3rd place Adrian. Other finishers for Western in the Girls race were: Tessa Wyman (8th) - 63rd place, 18:35.50 Addison Benner (6th) - 74th place, 19:55.6 (personal best) Laynie Sawyer (8th) - 79th place, 20:13.45 (personal best) Other finishers for the Western Boys were: Kenny Metcalf (7th) - 33rd place, 14:01.96 Quentin Woods (8th) - 35th place, 14:03.75 Brian Humphrey (8th) - 39th place, 14:20.82 (personal best) Nathan Bowser (8th) - 40th place, 14:21.09 (personal best) Landon Corry (8th) - 52nd place, 14:47.83 Hunter Riska (6th) - 54th place, 14:49.02 (personal best) Henry Schaible (7th) - 58th place, 14:58.51 Xavier Flores (8th) - 63rd place, 15:17.77 (personal best) Logan Koch (6th) - 65th place, 15:22.20 (personal best) Owen Bradley (6th) - 79th place, 16:15.04 (personal best) Darwin Vansummeren (8th) - 92nd place, 17:33.27 (personal best) Jaxon Young (6th) - 99th place, 17:43.59 (personal best) Micah DeLap (7th) - 105th place, 18:13.74 (personal best) Lennon Shelton (8th) - 109th place, 18:45.45 Ben Knickerbocker (7th) - 117th place, 20:08.95 (personal best) Samuel Kruso (7th) - 118th place, 20:15.42 (personal best) Albert Zhang (7th) - 125th place, 20:56.30 (personal best) Connor Denissen (6th) - 130th place, 22:40.15 (personal best) Matthew Balliet (7th) - 132nd place, 22:52.63 Zander Flowers (6th) - 134 place, 23:02.67 (personal best) In the Girls One-Mile race, Kylie Burroughs (7th) finished second overall with a time of 7:58.09, taking home a medal in the process. Makinzee Taylor (7th) finished 16th with a time of 12:35.37, and Kristyna Daly (6th) finished 17th with a time of 12:49.17. In the Boys One-Mile, Tyler Cole (7th) took 9th place with a time of 8:12.30, and Tony Hewitt (6th) finished 12th with a time of 16:52.01. Both Western Middle School Cross Country teams run again on Saturday afternoon at the Lakeview Invitational.