Middle School Cross Country: Local schools take first

At meet in Mexico

MEXICO, Mo. - The Thomas Jefferson boys and the Lewis and Clark girls from Jefferson City earned first-place finishes Monday at the Mexico Middle School Invitational.

On the boys side, Thomas Jefferson finished with 37 points after sweeping the top three spots.

Thomas Nield won the race in 8:28.59, while Izaak Sochinski was second at 8:37.75 and Landon Dunlap was third at 8:42.97.

Trent Kempker finished 14th, Brady Sloan was 17th and Jack Lear was 19th to round out the top six runners for Thomas Jefferson.

Lewis and Clark finished third in the boys division with 109 points.

Ben Krause led the team with a sixth-place finish in 8:50.26, while Brennan Jefferies was 10th at 9:04.37.

Patrick Malone (36th), Garrett Butler (37th), Bryan Elseman (38th) and Tyler Smith (60th) rounded out the top six spots for the Lewis and Clark boys.

On the girls side, Lewis and Clark took home the top honors with 73 points.

Kaitlyn Schwandtner finished third in 10:08.40 to lead the team while Emma Brondel was 10th at 10:38.42 and Elizabeth Dunn was 16th at 11:00.49.

Sasha Campbell (20th), Valerie Hurt (29th) and Grace Griffin (45th) rounded out the top six competitors for Lewis and Clark.

Lauren Tuck won the girls race in 9:55.88 to lead Thomas Jefferson, which finished fourth with 97 points.

May Drayton was fourth at 10:16.52 and Amy Cook finished 13th at 10:52.52 to help pace the team.

Mira Ghandi (31st), Trinity Pendleton (53rd), Britni Spencer (55th) and Haddie Harden (78th) rounded out the top six runners for Thomas Jefferson.