EVANSVILLE – Bedford North Lawrence’s Paige Voigtschild crossed the line in second place overall as the Stars finished fifth in the Dennis Bays Invitational during girls high school cross country action on Saturday at Angel Mounds.
BNL, competing on the course that will host the IHSAA regional, totaled 144 points. Castle won the team title with 96, while Tell City was a close second in the 15-team field with 98. In the boys competition, BNL was 13th among 18 teams with 345 points.
Voigtschild raced to the finish in 19:44.3, matching her personal-best time. Southridge’s Maddie Graber was the individual champion in 19:04.8.
Other top finishers for the Stars included Claire Voigtschild (17th in 21:45.8), Madison Chandler (34th in 22:56.1) and Gracie Simmerman (42nd in 23:19.4).
“We are very pleased with our race,” BNL coach Amy Greenan said. “It was exciting to be up so high. Paige had another great race, We like that course. It’s a good preview for regional and we fully expect to be there toward the end of October.
”We had another good day for our mid-pack. Claire was running tough, Madison and Gracie ran well together. Ashlyn hung out longer with them and we’ve got good things coming.”
In the boys meet, Eli McFarland paced the Stars while finishing 44th in 18:29.7. Hayden Rich was 66th in 19:12.1, followed by Kason Gulley (93rd in 20:10.3) and Clayton Schaefer (96th in 20:14.8).
“It was good to have the majority of our team back in the lineup,” BNL coach Nick Boyd said. “We are making some progress as a team. Ultimately, it has been nice to see Eli and Hayden make some progress this year, and we are starting to see some other individuals, like Clayton Schaefer, begin to race better. We will need to be a full unit as we progress, and we look forward to building as the year continues.”
Castle won the team title with 70 points while Barr-Reeve was second with 75. Jack Wilburn of Signature was the overall champion in 16:06.8.
BNL will compete in the North Harrison Invitational on Thursday.
DENNIS BAYS INVITATIONAL
