The Batesville Middle School cross country team did not let the heat stop them from having a great night at the Greensburg Invitational Monday.
The girls’ varsity team stepped up to the line first and came away with an impressive victory led by 7th grader Ava Wade. Wade led the field of over 140 runners, crossing the finish line first in a time of 11:44.
Following Wade was Jayla Bedel in 8th, Elia Wade in 13th, Hilary Ziegler 14th, Caitlin Raver in 17th, Nya Moon 18th, and Maycee Holtkamp in 42nd.
Competing for the championship against 24 other schools, Batesville won with an impressive 53 points ahead of East Central in 2nd place with 93 points and Brown County in 3rd with 97 points.
The boys varsity ran next and was led by 8th grader Levi Essick. Essick was 24th overall with a time of 12:34. Close behind was Cael Luhman in 37th place, Hank Bohman in 41st, Abe Trossman 51st, Wyatt Essick 53rd, Ryan Benz 77th, and Coleman West in 107th.
Despite the challenging conditions, the boys still managed to pull off a 5th place finish with 206 points, defeating all the participating EIAC schools including East Central and Greensburg.
The JV runners were the last to run but still had notable finishes by the girls who placed in the top 10. Audrey Dieckmann was first overall, Aubrey Weberding placed 2nd, Alyssa Cummings 3rd, Caroline Wiedeman 5th, Bhuvi Rhanka 6th, and Kenzi Lacey 8th in a field of over 110 runners.
(Information provided by Batesville Middle School Cross Country)