Coming off a week arguably considered their best in program history, the Cross Country team brought down the mileage and set high expectations for themselves at the Pickerington North Panther Invitational.

The Invitational is run on the regional course and is considered by the coaching staff as “one of the most important meets.”

The course was incredibly muddy once the gun was shot for the High School Boys. Juniors Luke Malone, Gavin Frick, and Michael Gray were the team’s top finishers.

Freshman Grant Welsch finished next and was followed by junior Zach Hicks, freshman Colyn McDaniel, and sophomore Brady Corbitt. All 7 raced to Top 50 performances.

“It was good to see all the team’s hard work pay off. Considering the course, we didn’t have a bad day. Other team’s just had better one’s,” said Corbitt.

The team placed third, losing to 8th ranked Heath and 4th ranked Frederickstown (in D3). The team hopes to close the gap between them and Heath by the time regionals roll around.

Sophomore Maddie Davis finished first for the girls. Sophomore Morgan Hicks and senior Maddy Killian followed.

Freshman Reggan Gray and senior Ashlyn McDaniel also raced to Top 50 performances.

The 4th ranked girls placed 5th, behind 14th ranked Bexley, 10th ranked Fairfield Union, unranked Williamstown, and 7th ranked Ontario.

The team hopes to rebound in multiple meets this week. On Wednesday, the team competes at the Darby Dash 2 miler. On Saturday, the team will hope to bolster its depth and the team’s top runners will help their younger runners run faster times at the Marion Harding Invitational.