The Bellwood-Antis boys cross country team took a giant step toward the Mountain League Cross Country championship on Tuesday, defeating Indian Valley on the losers’ course.
Blue Devils sophomore Aaron Bell was again the top finisher, coming in first with a time of 18:58. B-A senior Kyle Shiffler added a third place finish in 19:15, Will Edwards was fifth in 19:59 and Jason Nedimyer was seventh in 20:03.
Indian Valley’s Alexander was second in 19:10.
Both teams entered the race with 8-1 records.
“This was a big win for our boys,” said B-A coach Julie Roseborough. “Both of these teams had the same record coming in and running at their course, which is pretty hilly gave them the advantage. The boys ran a very intense race, an excellent race with a lot of enthusiasm.”
The Bellwood-Antis girls lost to Indian Valley 15-50 with only four girls healthy enough to run. In cross country, the top five racers earn points, so to have only four girls put the Lady Blue Devils at a decided advantage, before the race was even started.
Lady Blue Devil junior Allison Cherry won the girls race with a time of 23:26, 32 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. Lydia Gray finished sixth, Heather Taylor was ninth and Amanda Houtz finished in 10th place. Gray, Taylor, and Houtz are all ninth graders with a great future ahead if they continue to improve.
“The girls lost,” said Roseborough, “but we had a couple girls injured and were only able to put four girls in the race. Allison was first and ran a race. All four of our girls finished in the top 10, which was a great race, considering they knew what their chances were before they even started.”
