Wildcats medal seven in season opening meet at Garnett

***Louisburg freshman Karissa Williamson led the Wildcat girls cross country team as she medaled 16th overall.***

GARNETT – The Louisburg cross country team — as a whole — may be young, but many of the Wildcats didn’t show it last Thursday during the Jerry Howarter Invitational at Garnett Country Club.

The Wildcats came home with seven medals, including four on the boys side, while the girls team finished fourth overall out of eight teams. Add in the fact that it was much cooler than normal for the first meet of the season and it was a successful night all around for Louisburg.

“The meet went well on Thursday,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “Can’t ever remember an Anderson County meet with weather like we had. The runners did a great job on the day.”

Junior Truman Ellison paced the boys team as he finished 13^th overall in 18 minutes and 12 seconds and fellow junior, Levi Cotter, medaled 20^th in 19:05. Juniors Spencer Mattison and Titus Ellison also left Garnett with medals as they finished 23^rd and 24^th, respectively.

***Louisburg junior Truman Ellison led the boys team as he took 13th last Thursday in Garnett.***

“The boys ran well and I was pleased with their level of competition that they brought to the meet,” Reece said. “Truman showed that summer running paid off as he ran a solid time to start the season. Our JV boys also ran well and we will look to put together a full team sooner rather than later.”

Louisburg also found success on the girls side as three Wildcats also brough home medals. As team, they finished fourth overall with 108 points. Baldwin won the meet with 39 points and Paola was second with 87.

A pair of freshmen led the way for Louisburg as Karissa Williamson finished 16^th overall in 22:38. Freshman Maddox McGhee was right behind her in 17^th with a time of 22:42.

Sophomore Hailey Shelton also ran away with a medal as she took 29^th in 23:49. Sophomore Reese Smith just missed some hardware as she took 31^st in 24:10 and junior Talen McMurray was 37^th in 24:42. Sophomore Annie Hornberger finished 48^th in 25:53.

“Karissa and Maddox crushed their first high school meet,” Reece said. “It is going to be fun to watch them progress this season. The other varsity girls ran well and we will be there at the end of the season vying for a team qualification for state.”

Louisburg will try and take another step forward Saturday as the Wildcats travel to the Wamego Invitational. Races begin at 8:30 a.m.