NORTH VERNON – Paige Voigtschild defended her individual title as Bedford North Lawrence finished third in the 59th annual Ray Gerkin Invitational during girls high school cross country action at Jennings County on Saturday.
The Stars totaled 69 points. Seymour won the team crown with 57, while Jennings County was a close second with 59 in the six-team field.
Voigtschild cruised to her second straight win in the event while crossing the line in 18:54.38.
“Paige ran a smart race and won by almost a minute,” BNL coach Amy Greenan said. “She’s been under 19 minutes for three weeks in a row. Next week we’re at home, so that is going to be her opportunity to break the school record of 19:45. At BNL, the school record has to be run on the school course, so that will be exciting to watch for that.”
BNL’s other top finishers included Claire Voigtschild (12th in 21:22.88), Madison Chandler (16th in 21:44.63) and Gracie Simmerman (20th in 22:19.03).
”I’m starting to feel like a broken record, but these girls just keep getting faster,” Greenan said. “Claire has been solid for us and was 10 seconds off her PR. Our next four are three seniors and a freshman with just a 1:08 spread. They’ve done a great job of maintaining contact with each other and working together to keep moving up. We had 3 PRs and a season best from that group.
“This team is strong and confident. We’re excited at the progress being made.”
In the boys race, BNL finished fifth among seven teams with 133 points. Seymour won the team title with 47 points.
Eli McFarland was the top finisher for the Stars, crossing in 14th place overall in 17:44.06. Kason Gulley was 23rd in 18:39.11, and Hayden Rich was 27th in 18:46.68.
“We had some great races with career PRs from both Eli and Kason,” BNL coach Nick Boyd said. “They were pretty excited. We had a solid week of practice and people have been running well this week. We will up the consistency as we move forward.“
“I felt a little rushed at the start, but raced well through difficulty,” Gulley said.
“It is a great feeling to run faster than last year and I am proud of what I ran today,” McFarland added.
Hauser’s Nolan Dailey was the individual winner in 16:25.70.
BNL will host the annual Ted Fox Invitational on Sept. 27.
Ray Gerkin Invitational
