Courtesy of Shari Miller

The Juniata girls cross country team competed first on the challenging 5k course on Penn State’s Blue golf course.  Sophomore Carolyn Heidenreich led the Indians with a 48th place finish in a time of 21:11.8.  Sophomore Erendira Martinez-Ramirez placed 157th with a time of 25:29.1.  Junior Selena Mayall-Marker finished in 173rd place with a time of 26:33.1.  Freshman Ella Zimmerman came in shortly after in 178th place with a time of 26:54.3.  Juniata competed without Sylvia Brubaker and Hannah Zeiders because of injury.  The girls team was unable to score as a team since they only had 4 runners compete.  “It got very warm by the start of the girls race.  I thought Carolyn, Erendria, Selena, and Ella all ran with determination today.  Carolyn is the only one with high school cross country experience from last year.  They are all determined to keep working on bettering themselves.  Erendira, Selena, and Ella all ran personal best today.” Juniata Coach Jeff Miller said.

The boys competed on the 5k cross country course right after the finish of the girls race so real feel temperatures were in the 80’s.  Sophomore Josiah Barner led the Indians with a 83rd place finish with a time of 18:28.9.  Junior Coy Kerstetter was next finishing in 117th place with a time of 19:11.5.  Senior Kade Wagner placed 130th with a time of 19:20.4.  Junior Joel Hardin wasn’t far back finishing in 135th place with a time of 19:26 and sophomore David Mayall-Marker tied Joel with the same time in 136th place.  Freshman Luke Weiand placed 226th with a time of 23:13.1.  Sophomore John Randolph placed 236th with a time of 24:17.6.  Juniata coach Jeff Miller said “I thought the boys did the best they could for the day.  David, Joel, Luke, and John all ran personal best.  This course can take several times racing it to get the pacing right with such a fast first mile and a difficult last mile.  They will take the experience from this race to better themselves for future races.”