Photo by Shari Miller

In the girls varsity race, junior Sylvia Brubaker led the Indians with a 5th place finish in a time of 19:43.  Shortly after sophomore Carolyn Heidenreich and Hannah Zeiders finished in 14th and 15th place with both running times of 21:14.  All three girls walked away with medals.  Sophomore Erendira Martinez-Ramirez placed 42nd with a time 26:13.  Junior Selena Mayall-Marker placed 47th with a time of 26:44.  Freshman Ella Zimmerman placed 51st with a time of 28:10.

The girls team placed 3rd in AA competition out of 10 teams.  Lewisburg won the girls varsity AA competition with 31 points.  Juniata Coach Jeff Miller said “I thought the girls ran great as a team in their season opener.  For Erendira, Selena, and Ella, this was their first high school cross country race so they will continue to improve as the season goes on.

 Carolyn and Hannah showed their hard work and consistency is paying off by getting medals.  Carolyn was close to a personal best and Hannah ran a personal best today.  Sylvia was a little off today, but she will figure out what she needs to do to get everything out of herself.

In the boys varsity race, sophomore Josiah Barner led the Indians with a 20th place finish in a time of 18:24.  Senior Kade Wagner came in shortly after with a time of 18:42 to place 25th.  Junior Coy Kerstetter placed 30th with a time of 18:55.

Sophomore David Mayall-Marker ran a time of 19:26 to place 39th.  Rounding out the scoring for the Indians was junior Joel Hardin placing 42nd with a time of 19:27.

Freshman Luke Weiand placed 76th with a time of 24:21.  Juniata placed 5th out of 11 teams in AA competition with Lewisburg winning the team title with 52 points.  “I thought the boys ran very close to the times I expected,” Juniata Coach Jeff Miller said. “Luke and John didn’t get any miles running over the summer so I was unsure what times they would run.  They will continue to improve every week as the season goes on.  This is their first year running cross country in high school, so they don’t truly understand how important base training is over the summer to be successful in the fall.  They both can be so much better than they think.  I was not surprised to see Josiah come in as our first runner today.  He’s got great leg speed and will continue to improve as he gets more miles in his legs.  He started out the season with a personal best.  Kade ran tough like usual to also run a personal best.  Joel and David improved their times a lot since this race a year ago.  They also ran personal best times.  Coy is coming off of shoulder surgery in the spring so he missed track season and his fitness is a little bit behind.  I expect him to get stronger each week and be at his best when it matters come districts.”