OWENSVILLE — Winning a Four Rivers Conference (FRC) varsity boys cross country team title last fall in St. Clair, Keely Uthlaut’s Hermann Bearcats looked to make it back-to-back FRC titles last Tuesday at Owensville High School (OHS) during the annual FRC Cross Country meet.

Led by Nolan Kopp’s third-place time of 17:10.80, Hermann had six of their runners in the top 17 of the varsity boys race helping them hold off Owensville scoring 34 team points compared to 46 for the Dutchmen.

Varsity Bearcats joining Kopp as FRC champions for the second year in a row were Nathan Menke (8th, 18:02.76), Ryker Ash (11th, 18:17.12), Chase Branson (15th, 18:39.33), Eric Chorley (16th, 18:39.56) and CJ Mires (17th, 18:39.73).

Rounding out Hermann’s contingency of varsity Bearcats was Aiden Branson with a 40th-place time of 21:30.57.

In the varsity girls race, Cecilia Shepard led four Lady Bearcats in the top 16 helping Hermann to a third-place team finish with 63 points behind Pacific (58) and Union (30).

Shepard placed seventh in a time of 22:13.69 while Alaina Heaney rounded out the top 10 with a 10th-place time of 22:32.46.

Lorena Uthlaut also earned All-FRC Honorable Mention status with her 14th-place time of 23:05.39 while Eileen Swofford just missed All-FRC honors placing 16th in 23:18.00.

Additional Lady Bearcats on the course for the varsity girls race included Fynnlee Riffle (21st, 23:44.27), Elaina Uthlaut (23rd, 24:30.48), Lillian Vogelsang (28th, 24:48.89), Grace Engemann (31st, 25:39.38), Grace Berkemeyer (32nd, 25:56.72) and Jocelyn Neill (34th, 26:17.19).

Three JV Bearcats also earned All-FRC honors led by Colin Nunnally with a second-place time of 20:10.84 in the junior varsity boys race at Owensville.

Earning All-FRC Honorable Mention accolades for the JV Bearcats were Jackson Engemann (11th, 21:25.71) and Holden Schales (12th, 21:30.91).

Fellow JV Bearcats helping Hermann placed third with a team score of 55 points behind Owensville (27) and St. Clair (46) included Andrew Calvert (17th, 22:12.50), Ethan Helmig (24th, 23:06.18), James Leavy (29th, 24:19.95), Hunter Englert (41st, 30:59.62) and Levi Traub (42nd, 31:13.48).

Of the 13 girls on the course for the junior varsity girls race, three of them were Hermann Lady Bearcats.

Freshman Nevaeh Bentley led the Lady Bearcat running trio with a fifth-place time of 25:56.96.

She was followed by Makenna Witthaus (7th, 26:55.40) and Addison Hopper (10th, 27:26.42.

Jaxon Kallmeyer led HMS’ Bearcats in the middle school boys race with a 12th-place time of 13:07.66.

Additional Bearcats helping Hermann place third in the middle school boys division with 98 points included Matthew Talent (20th, 14:05.16), Laramie Bristow (21st, 14:06.75), Wade Lane (26th, 14:18.50), Mason Roche (36th, 14:50.21), Teagan Rucker (43rd, 15:05.37), Lane Bristow (46th, 15:14.43), Henry Lindahl (50th, 15:31.08), Caleb Pohlmann (58th, 16:06.36), Kayden Brinker (67th, 17:29.32), Ivan Rudzinski (74th, 18:08.97) and William Traub (76th, 18:37.90).

Capping the day of FRC cross country racing from Owensville was HMS’ Lady Bearcats in the middle school girls race led by Kennedy Schwenk in a 15th-place time of 15:52.77.

Also helping them to a fourth-place team finish with 98 points were Kylee Schweighauser (25th, 17:30.19), Ellison Calvert (27th, 17:39.13), Sidney Heldt (30th, 18:25.63), Jenna Fredrick (31st, 18:27.37), Audrey Talamante (32nd, 18:28.19), Olivia Waechter (37th, 19:05.97), Iris Pottebaum (39th, 20:18.15), Kyah Humphrey (40th, 20:37.57), Natalie Englert (42nd, 21:21.67), Abigail Heisel (44th, 22:13.71), Lillian Luckett (49th, 24:54.25) and Ella Grace Carr (50th, 25:22.05).