It was a simple mission last Tuesday throughout the Gasconade County R-2 campus.

Keep as many medals and as much hardware possible in town from the annual Owensville Invitational Cross Country Meet.

Once all five races were in the history books, a total of 12 Owensville High School harriers earned medals to go along with the JV Dutchmen claiming top honors as the lone scoring team in the meet.

Dutchmen freshman Ty Price added to his win at Hermann a week ago with a first-place time of 19:48.54 on his home course.

Also earning medals and helping the Dutchmen attain a perfect team score of 15 points were Tristan Strothkamp (3rd, 20:17.14), Westin Kramme (4th, 20:27.83), Braden Perkins (6th, 20:41.27), Drake Dietrich (7th, 20:44.49), Kylen Menz (9th, 21:01.84) and Bryce Kramme (13th, 21:44.61).

Nick Hinson (16th), Coleton Connor (21st), Eli Graham (22nd), Maddix Lebish (23rd) and Ethan Blankenship (26th) also ran for the JV Dutchmen last Tuesday.

Matt Candrl’s varsity Dutchgirls nearly made it two team champions last Tuesday.

Scoring 55 team points along with Union, the tie was broken using the scoring place of the sixth runner for both teams.

Union’s finished four places better than Owensville’s giving them the team title.

Ilene Limberg led a trio of Dutchgirl medalists with a second-place time of 20:20.28 followed by Hannah Gehlert (7th, 21:58.47) and Abbie Gibson (9th, 22:36.44).

Other varsity Dutchgirls on their home course included Grace Abell (28th), Elaina Lebish (29th) and Katie Schnelting (45th).

Owensville’s (54) varsity Dutchmen took second to Pacific’s 42 points in the varsity boys team standings.

Freshman Zach Holtmeyer led Owensville with a third-place time of 17:45.65 following closely by senior teammate Felix Guerrero’s fourth-place time of 17:47.67.

Kyle Bollman just missed the top 15 and a medal with a 17th-place time of 19:33.47.

Fellow varsity Dutchmen on their home course were Cristopher Reyes (19th), Ethan Harris (24th) and Andrew Blankenship (30th).

During the middle school races, OMS’ Dutchgirls were led by Madalyn Pigg’s 17th-place time of 16:37.19 followed by Annalise Dryer’s 20th-place time of 17:07.42.

Also helping OMS’ Dutchgirls place sixth as a team were Haley Boland (38th), Tristyn Weirich (39th), Ella Barker (45th) and Addison Sieckmann (47th).

Showing the way for OMS’ Dutchmen last Tuesday was sixth-grader Robbie Rodriguez with a 17th-place time of 14:05.33.

Other OMS Dutchmen harriers helping them place seventh as a team were Hunter Anderson (29th), Ricky Ringeisen (50th), Dylan Dietrich (60th), Merlin Ramirez (64th) and Daimeyn Rogers (65th)

After hosting the annual Four Rivers Conference (FRC) Cross Country meet yesterday, Candrl’s Dutchmen and Dutchgirls will get almost two weeks to prepare for the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 3, District 3 Cross Country meet hosted by South Callaway High School in Mokane.

They will also be hosting Class 1 and Class 2 District 3 meets as well.