Finishing September with a preview of the state championship course in Columbia, Matt Candrl’s Owensville High School cross country runners competed closer to home at Hermann last Tuesday.

Improving on her fifth-place finish at Gans Creek, Dutchgirl senior Mekayla Gibson won the varsity girl’s race at Loutre Shore Country Club in a time of 20:09.61.

“Mekayla (Gibson) took an early lead in her race and withstood pressure from Hermann to hold on for the win,” Coach Candrl said.

Joining Gibson in the top 20 and the medals were fellow seniors Katie Candrl (13th, 22:26.38) and Kate Angell (18, 23:20.01).

Finishing second behind Hermann in the team standings, the Lady Bearcats had their top five runners in the medals.

They included Amelia Uthlaut (2nd, 20:21.47), Morgan Miller (6th, 21:25.96), Katy Menke (10th, 22:14.81), Heidi Hingst (11th, 22:22.93) and Clara Scheible (19th, 23:22.15).

Other Dutchgirls helping them to a second-place team finish were Kyah Weirich (26th), Julianna Watkins (56th), Khloe McCormick (59th), Katelyn Holtzer (60th), Kierra Finn (61st), Peyton Weinland (63rd), Hayden Loeb (66th), Isabelle Bruckerhoff (67th), Cassidy Gooch (84th) and Libby Korman (86th).

“Khloe (McCormick) had a nice PR (personal record) running herself into the top seven overall on the team,” Coach Candrl said.

Taking their turn next on the course were Candrl’s varsity Dutchmen.

Seconds outside of the top 10, the Dutchmen duo of Jacob Breedlove (12th, 18:43.69) and Cameron O’Neal (13th, 18:44.47) led Owensville (93) to a third-place team finish behind Hermann (40) and Bowling Green (54).

“Cam and Jacob ran better this week and I think they can be players in the conference race,” Coach Candrl said.

In similar fashion to the Lady Bearcats, Hermann had all five of their boys earn medals for top-20 finishes.

They included Dalton Gleeson (2nd, 17:03.07), Brayden Brown (9th, 18:16.10), Austin Terry (10th, 18:27.28), Michael Giles (14, 18:46.87) and Peter Giles (17th, 18:52.66).

Fellow Dutchmen helping their team place third included Harm Rademacher (32nd), Freddy Zheng (33rd), Trevor Shockley (36th) and Braedn Stone (43rd).

Rounding out the day of racing north of Hermann was the junior varsity boys.

Both Gasconade County schools were the lone ones with full scoring teams.

Hermann topped the JV Boy’s team standings with 17 points compared to 40 for Owensville.

Of the top 15 medal positions, 13 of them were occupied by county harriers.

Owensville was led by Felix Guerrero’s fifth-place time of 20:21.07 followed by Noah Holtmeyer (7th, 20:30.12), Tristan Davis (9th, 20:34.10) and Ethan Harris (10th, 20:38.26).

“All four guys did a really nice job racing their way to medals and personal best today,” Coach Candrl said.

JV Bearcats in the top 15 for Hermann included Jackson Poehlman (1st), Trigg Lindahl (2nd), Charles Schutt (3rd), Woodrow Heidt (4th), Ben Berkemeyer (8th), Daniel Gerloff (11th), Ayden Elder (12th), Christian Means (13th) and Aidan Heaney (15th).

Other JV Dutchmen helping OHS place second behind Hermann were Sam Nicks (17th), Jayden Barnett (18th), Sam Hoffman (20th), Andrew Blankenship (21st), Sean Trenton-Million (25th) and Jim Jenkins (28th).

“Jayden Barnett has been improving with each race and did a nice job of making each race a chance to be faster,” Coach Candrl said.

Following last night’s (Tuesday) Owensville Invitational, Candrl’s Dutchmen and Dutchgirls will compete in the annual Four Rivers Conference (FRC) meet on Tuesday, Oct. 20 hosted by New Haven High School at their city park with the first of six races beginning at 2:30 p.m.