Russellville's cross country teams competed at the Linn Invitational Saturday, where the varsity Lady Indians captured a second place finish with 70 points. Owensville won the girls' race with 59. "We were two points better than California, who finished third with 72," Rusesllville Coach Craig Miller said.
Medalists for Russellville were Miranda Hill in third place with 21:00; Grace Young, sixth, 21:28; Taylor Young, 26th, 23:19; and Hannah Matthews, 30th, 23:36.
"I thought the girls ran very well," Miller said. "This was our first meet where we had all nine girls running together. A couple of them are nursing injuries, so once we are over the injury bug, I can't wait to see how the girls progress. I can sure tell that putting in the summer miles has helped Miranda, Grace and Taylor."
Russellville's varsity boys finished in fifth place with 156 points. Fatima won the boys' race with 49.
"The boys really did well Saturday," Miller said. "There were 16 teams, and the field was loaded with Class 3 and Class 2 schools, so our boys really stepped up and I can't wait to see how they do as the year goes on. Just about everyone put in a lot of miles this summer. They realized what it takes to be one of the top teams in their class. This shows how competitive our conference will be with Linn, the defending Class 1 state champs, and Fatima, who finished third in Class 2 last year."
Alex M. Thompson was the solo medalist for the Russellville boys in 14th place with 18:30.
Russellville's JV boys also competed at Linn, where Damian Miller was a medalist in seventh place with 20:47, followed by Adam Kennedy, 30th , 22:56; and Caleb Nichols, 36th, 23:57.
"It was a good showing for the freshmen," Miller said. "This was Damian's second medal in as many races and Adam improved immensely from the Jefferson City meet Tuesday. These three will only get stronger and faster as the year goes along and will be pushing to be on the top seven varsity squad."
Russellville's middle school girls and boys also competed at the Linn Invitational, where Sydney Robertson medaled with a 12th place finish at 10:37 for the girls. Medaling for the Indians were
Anthony Bertucci in eight place with 8:56; Beau Bryant, 10th, 8:57; and Harrison Frank, 20th, 9:31.
"There were 66 girls and 115 boys running," Miller said. "We didn't field enough runners for a team, but I'm proud of how we did. Anthony ran the third fastest time ever for our middle school boys, and Beau ran the fourth fastest. This was both boys' first meet as they are seventh graders."
Miller added, "Sydney Robertson and Skylar also ran their first meet as seventh graders and did great. Adie had missed about a week of practice leading up to the meet, but did very well considering the missed practice time."
The RHS and RMS cross country teams will compete in a meet at Belle High School at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20.