PUNXSUTAWNEY — The Bradford Lady Owls cross country team traveled to Punxsutawney Tuesday to race against the Lady Chucks of Punxsutawney, the Lady Beavers of Dubois and the Lady Raiders of Brookville.
In a very tight race, Punxsutawney pulled out the win 27-29, Dubois beat the Lady Owls 25-30, but the Lady Owls were able to beat Brookville 25-34.
“Everybody ran hard on a hot day with a pretty slow course,” said Bradford coach Dr. Mark Kelley. “We were missing two of our top five runners (Brianna and Anna) and two others were recovering from illnesses. I think at full strength it would have been a different outcome.”
Jennifer Bouquin led the way with a fifth-place finish in 24:21.
“Jen continues to have a great year and push at the front of the race. She is really stepping up as the leader of this team,” Kelley said.
Rylann Terwilliger was ninth in 25:46.
“Rylan is steadily getting into varsity running. By the end of the month, she will be up with Jen,” Kelley said.
Addison Benson was 10th in 25:49.
“Addison just continues to impress me with her running. She is so consistent and runs hard all the time,” Kelley said.
Brooke Clouser was 11th in 25:49.
“Brooke is getting over a cold that took her out of practice a few days last week, but she always pushes herself and I know I can always count on her for the team,” Kelley said.
Olivia Funk was 18th in 30:20, Joleen Weimer 19th in 30:38 and Madison Vinelli was 21st in 30:53.
“We are slowly improving and getting better,” Kelley said. “Racing is much different than practicing and I think we are still adjusting to racing. We have our home invite Saturday where we are the three-time defending champions. We need to be ready for Saturday.”
The Lady Owls middle school team completed a sweep of Punxsutawney 27-28, Dubois 21-36 and Brookville 16-47. Addie Pilon was the overall winner in 13:54. Olivia Rhoades was fifth in 15:18, Neveah Gomez was sixth in 15:23, Mariah Hallock was 10th in 15:49, Kora Pennell was 12th in 17:01, Emma Herne was 14th in 18:12, Addison Terwilliger was 16th in 20:42, Rozlynn Foster was 19th in 22:17, Amelia Pautler was 22nd in 23:27 and Vivian Orris was 25th in 23:35.
“Everyone looked very good today,” Kelley said. “We have some things to focus on at practice the next 3 days to be ready for Saturday.”
The Lady Owls host the 21st Annual Bradford Invitational Saturday. The first race will be the girls varsity at 9 a.m., boys varsity at 9:40, girls’ middle school at 10:20 and boys’ middle school at 10:40.
