Running on their home course the previous Tuesday during the Owensville Invitational, Owensville Middle School (OMS) and Owensville High School (OHS) cross country runners took full advantage of a second week running in familiar territory during last Tuesday’s annual Four Rivers Conference (FRC) Cross Country meet.

Fresh off a victory in the varsity boys division of the Owensville Invitational, junior Zach Holtmeyer looked to add a FRC individual title to his long list of accomplishments.

Breaking away from Pacific’s Ben Smith and Hermann’s Nolan Kopp late in the race, Holtmeyer claimed a FRC title following a first-place time of 17:04.03 in the varsity boys race.

“Zach ran a great race and was on a mission to prove that he could run with the best of the conference,” Candrl said.

Fellow junior Drake Dietrich also earned an All-FRC medal with a ninth-place time of 18:04.42.

Cristopher Reyes collected All-FRC Honorable Mention status with a 14th-place finish in a time of 18:25.79.

Also helping the Dutchmen place second as a team with 46 points behind Hermann’s 34 points were Ty Price (21st, 19:20.79), Grayson Lairmore (22nd, 19:32.67) and Westin Kramme (28th, 19:58.24).

Next on the course were the varsity girls.

Senior Hannah Gehlert led the orange and black with a fourth-place time of 20:44.53 good for a medal and All-FRC 1st Team recognition.

“Hannah had a great race and has worked really hard all season to get where she’s at to be able to earn All-FRC 1st Team honors,” Candrl said.

Additional varsity Dutchgirls on the course included Leah Hays (24th, 24:40.41), Ella Davidson (26th, 24:45.28), Abbey Quilacio (30th, 25:14.01), Leola Hamann (33rd, 26:15.74) and Morgen Schmidt (39th, 32:04.21).

“Our girls continue to keep improving with each race and I look forward to seeing what they can do at districts in Linn,” Candrl said.

Owensville placed fifth in the varsity girls team standings with 101 points.

In the junior varsity boys race, Owensville nearly had half of the top 10 individually led by race winner Dylan Dietrich’s first-place time of 19:12.56.

JV Dutchmen following Dietrich in the top 10 included Hunter Anderson (3rd, 20:12.84), Aaiden Cox (4th, 20:36.63) and Nick Hinson (10th, 21:24.79).

Fellow JV Dutchmen helping OHS top the team standings with 27 points included Bryce Kramme (14th, 21:55.03), Dane Dietrich (15th, 21:55.66), Christian Steele (19th, 22:23.75), Dominick Eikermann (28th, 24:16.19) and Ethan Blankenship (37th, 26:53.89).

With only 13 runners competing in the junior varsity girls race, all of them earned All-FRC honors of some sort with the top 15 being recognized in each of the four high school races.

Meredith Reed (11th, 28:26.57) and Annalise Dryer (12th, 29:15.70) ran for Owensville’s JV Dutchgirls.

For OMS’ cross country runners, a deep list of accolades this fall got even deeper after racing action concluded.

Making up half of the top 20, OMS’ Dutchmen were led by Trace Lange who won a FRC individual title in a time of 12:22.73.

Joining Lange in the top 20 were Roman Crowe (2nd, 12:24.07), Robbie Rodriguez (3rd, 12:35.37), Trevin Nolting (5th, 12:49.28), Trace Ridder (11th, 13:00.19), Brock Rutledge (13th, 13:15.99) Zeke Johnson (14th, 13:30.84), Anthony Grube (16th, 13:34.24), Kyle Korff (17th, 13:36.10) and Bentley Crews (19th, 13:55.70).

Additional OMS Dutchmen harriers on their home course last Tuesday included Ayden Gutermuth (29th, 14:28.63), Braden Kemp (30th, 14:30.88), Garrett Ringeisen (31st, 14:33.44), Noah Anderson (32nd, 14:35.49), Ricky Ringeisen (34th, 14:42.93), Liam Kramme (37th, 14:51.81), Matthew Allen (41st, 15:03.95), Brady Rutledge (15:11.90), Jace Duerr (48th, 15:23.70) Seth Mitcham (49th, 15:23.89), Michael Anderson (51st, 15:36.00), Daven Dietrich (53rd, 15:38.52), Dustin Manson (54th, 15:40.42), Brahm Winter (57th, 15:59.90), Carter Price (59th, 16:08.68), Logan Hackstedt (61st, 16:39.77), Leland Hengstenberg (75th, 18:10.02), Alexander Pratt (77th, 18:40.13), Kendrick Smith (80th, 20:30.62), Isaac Dablemont (82nd, 21:40.83) and Avery Salamone (83rd, 25:04.23).

Owensville topped six other scoring teams with 22 points claiming top honors in the middle school boys team standings.

Seeing their OMS Dutchmen counterparts claim a FRC team title, OMS Dutchgirls looked to do the same in the final race of the day.

Led by Bella Daniels’ second-place time of 13:52.71, Owensville (43) edged Pacific (45) giving Owensville their third FRC team title of the meet.

OMS Dutchgirls joining Daniels in the top 10 were Adreahna Leach (7th, 14:39.22) and Alexis Christensen (8th, 14:50.15).

Also helping OMS’ Dutchgirls to a FRC team title were Jolie Vandegriffe (16th, 15:55.34), Alexandra Leach (18th, 16:11.15), Ambrosiah Salamone (23rd, 17:25.78), Ella Niederer (24th, 17:25.93), Aisha Santos (26th, 17:37.65), Sophia Beard (43rd, 22:10.09), Allyson Smith (46th, 22:29.06) and Emmaline Dozier (47th, 22:33.88).

OHS Cross Country will compete Saturday, Nov. 1 at Linn High School during the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 3, District 3 meet with racing beginning at 9 a.m., with the Class 3 Boys followed at 9:40 a.m., by the Class 3 Girls