Wildcats medal seven; boys and girls finish third at Wellsville

Louisburg senior Anthony Davis leads a pack of runners down a straightaway Thursday during the Wellsville Invitational. Davis finished sixth overall.

WELLSVILLE – It was a successful
day all around for the Louisburg cross country team as the Wildcats brought
home a lot of hardware from the Wellsville Invitational.

Both the boys and girls teams finished
third overall in the 11-team meet Thursday and combined to have seven
individual medalists. It was the type of performance Louisburg cross country
coach John Reece likes to see as his teams try to find their groove.

“It was a good day at Wellsville,” Reece
said. “Both girls and boys teams ran well. It is a tough week as we ran Wamego the
Saturday before and then raced on Thursday again. This sometimes leads to fewer
time improvements and we look to compete more as a team and work together than
to really go for a personal best. Both teams did just that. They worked
together and their effort was rewarded.”

Senior Anthony Davis led the Wildcat boys
with one of his better performances of the season as he took sixth overall with
a time of 18 minutes and 24 seconds. Junior Carson Houchen followed suit as he
took 15^th in 19:32 to also earn an individual medal.

Sophomore Ryan Rogers (19:46) and junior
Cade Holtzen (19:47) also left Wellsville with medals as they finished 23^rd
and 24^th, respectively.

Sawyer Richardson, a sophomore, ran a
20:28 to take 39^th overall. Senior Evan Murphy was 40^th
in 20:30.

As a team, the Wildcats recorded 98
points to earn the third place team medal. Central Heights won the Wellsville
title with 29 points and Burlington was second with 81.

“Anthony
is on a mission this year,” Reece said of his senior leader. “He has been
training great and is being rewarded through time improvement. He is setting
the tone for the boys team and they are following his lead. Four medalists in
the meet shows how hard and well they are working together, both in practices
and in meets. They pack-up together and mow down the field as the move through
the race.”

Senior
Trinity Moore also ran a strong race in what was a difficult field. Moore led
the Lady Cats with a sixth place finish in 21:30 and Bishop Seabury freshman
Oona Nelson was first in 20 minutes.

Fellow senior Carlee Gassman ran one of her better races of the season as she took 12^th in 22:06 and sophomore Reese Johnson was 14^th in 22:15 to round out the Louisburg medalists.

“Carlee
is running well,” coach Reece said. “She has improved upon her personal record
from last year and is training great. She is setting herself, and the team,
up for big time success at the end of the season.”

Freshman
Bree Gassman was fourth on the Louisburg team with a 24:51 to take 36^th
and junior Kennady Wilkerson took 40^th in 25:29. Freshman Nova
Ptacek (27:09) and sophomore Ruth Minster (27:16) rounded out the Louisburg
team in 52^nd and 53^rd, respectively.

As
a team, the Lady Cats recorded 78 points to take third overall. Central Heights
took the top spot with 60 points and Fort Scott was second with 67.

Louisburg
will hit the course again this Thursday when they compete in the Prairie View
Invitational. Races are set to begin at 3:30 p.m.