Joshua Irvin took tenth place in the Boys 7th & 8th Grade Cross Country race at the Lakeview Invitational on Saturday. Irvin (7th) ran a 12:35.37 in the race, leading the Panther Boys to a 7th place team finish for the event. Wesley Nierer (8th) claimed 52nd place in his first race of the season, charting a 13:56.00 time. Ben Hammond (8th) finished 53rd with a time of 13:56.53. Liam Rivera (8th) and Titus Clanton (8th) rounded out the scoring for the Panthers. Rivera finished 59th overall at 14:03.81 and Clanton took 68th overall at 14:19.27. Sam Decker (6th) took 11th place in the Boys 6th Grade race with a time of 14:35.04. The Western Ladies claimed 11th place as a team on the afternoon. Western was led by Laila Rotich (8th) and Adalynn Newton (8th). Rotich finished 30th with a time of 15:33.32, and Newton finished 33rd at 15:38.54. Abigail Jacobson (7th) claimed 84th place with a time of 18:16.99. Tessa Wyman (8th) and Laynie Sawyer (8th) finished the scoring for Western, as Wyman took 118th place at 20:15.62 and Sawyer placed 153rd at 25:35.82. Other finishers for Western included: Boys 7th & 8th Grade Race Kenny Metcalf (8th) - 80th place, 14:41.73 Quentin Woods (8th) - 99th place, 15:04.61 Nathan Bowser (8th) - 104th place 15:07.02 Brian Humphrey (8th) - 115th place, 15:29.60 Xavier Flores (8th) - 128th place, 16:07.28 Kankshith Veerakanell (7th) - 142nd place, 16:34.50 (personal best) Micah Delap (7th) - 153rd place, 16:59.93 (personal best) Henry Schaible (7th) - 156th place, 17:03.65 Landon Corry (8th) - 158th place, 17:06.78 Darwin Vansummeren (8th) - 175th place, 17:49.99 Ben Knickerbocker (7th) - 205th place, 19:35.61 (personal best) Lennon Shelton (8th) - 219th place, 20:26.88 Samuel Kruso (7th) - 225th place, 20:58.76 Tyler Cole (7th) - 233rd place, 22:23.64 Albert Zhang (7th) - 235th place, 22:27.98 Matthew Balliet (7th) - 244th place, 25:49.27 Girls 7th & 8th Grade Race Mackinzee Taylor (7th) - 156th place, 30:14.51 (personal best) Boys 6th Grade Race Owen Bradley (6th) - 51st place, 16:48.69 Jaxon Young (6th) - 64th place, 17:59.13 Connor Denissen (6th) - 96th place, 23:25.87 Zander Flowers (6th) - 106th place, 26.31.86 Girls 6th Grade Race Addison Benner (6th) - 41st place, 19:25.30 Hayden Blanchard (6th) - 61st place, 20:49.39 Kristyna Daly (6th) - 107th place, 30:19.34 Both Western Middle School Cross Country teams run again on Tuesday at the I8 Jamboree at Harper Creek. On Thu, Sep 10, 2026 at 8:05 PM Stephen Rice <stephen.rice@wsdpanthers.org> wrote: Here is the Cross Country Writeup for Thursday Night... 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.