By ALEXANDER SIMONE

Staff writer

County cross-country teams had a pair of difficult races this past week, with runners trying their best Thursday to maintain recent success.

Marion was led by freshman Gavin Wasmuth’s 18:33 finish, which was good for 31st place at Halstead. Tristen Dye and Christopher Beery were the Warriors’ two other sub-20 minute finishers, Dye at 19:19 and Beery at 19:42. The team was rounded out over the next few minutes with Cooper Bailey coming in at 21:23, Hayden Mendoza at 23:55 and Wyatt Helmer at 25:34.

Hillsboro’s Emersyn Funk may have had the best finish of all runners from the county’s teams, placing seventh among all girls at Berean Academy with a 21:46.59 finish. She was followed by Moriah Jost in 22:36.89, Ainsley Duell in 23:52.48, and Trudy Hein in 26:49.07.

Levi Allen was the boys’ top finisher in 17:33.91 for 10th place, with Tristan Reed in 18:57.09, Caleb Diener in 20:14.01, Carson Linnens in 21:33.30, and Noah Bartel in 24:22.25.

Three Goessel boys broke 20 minutes, led by Jacob Schrag’s 18:50.85. Ben Olsen followed at 19:43.12 and Timothy Schrag came in at 19:52.71. David Sawyer finished in 21:15.46 and Javin Schmidt in 23:50.14.

Goessel girls ran the JV race, with Cassandra Rust coming in at 26:21.87 and Braylyn Hoopes at 27:19.77 for their season bests. Alyssa Boden finished in 28:27.20.

Centre did not have enough runners to qualify as a full team for boys or girls in its race at Halstead. Senior Tyler Nickel led the way with a time of 21:11, followed by Michael Hererra at 22:56. Mariah Brasch finished in 29:10 for the Cougars, followed by Michelle Brasch at 31:16.