Red Oak harriers finish strong at Harlan, Creston

CRESTON — The Red Oak boys’ varsity cross-country team continued their resurgence last Tuesday when they finished third out of nine teams competing at the Creston Invitational in Creston.

Red Oak recorded a team score of 93 points, putting them behind Invitational champion Shenandoah (24 points) and runner-up Thomas Jefferson (52 points) in the A division, which is a larger school division.

The top four runners for Red Oak cross-country took home medals. Josh Sunberg was the top finisher as he ran a time of 18:35, putting him just outside the top 10 in 11th.

Travis Schon was nine seconds behind Sunberg, putting him in 16th. Logan LeRette was neck and neck with Schon at the finish line as he finished 17th with a time of 18:45.

Gavin French finished just outside the top 20 as he ran a time of 19:03 to place 22nd for the meet. Pete Walker wasn’t far behind French as he finished 27th with a time of 19:18.

Jake Smith finished 44th by running a time of 20:16 and Jared Sherman took 55th with a time of 21:00.

It is the third top five finish for Red Oak in the last two weeks. They also had top five finishes at Corning and their home meet.

The girls varsity team had two competitors, thus they didn’t enter a team score. Ellen Fellers finished 43rd with a time of 21:29 and Paige Vannausdle took 45th with a time of 21:46.

The junior varsity teams had a couple of competitors in both races. For junior varsity girls, Erica Sherman was 42nd with a time of 27:00 and Leatha Bennett was 45th with a time of 28:21.

In the JV boys race, Gage Palmer took 66th with a time of 24:43 and Tanner Allensworth was 84th with a time of 28:35.
Red Oak’s boys varsity team finished ninth out of 13 teams competing at the Harlan Invitational at the Harlan Golf and Country Club Saturday.

Josh Sunberg had the lone top 20 finish as he ran a time of 18:03. Travis Schon was five seconds behind Sunberg, placing 23rd.

Logan LeRette was the only other Red Oak runner to finish in the top 40 as he finished 39th with a time of 18:39.
Walker, French, Jake Smith and Jared Sherman all had places in the 60s. Walker was 60th, French was 62nd, Smith was 65th and Sherman 66th.

Thomas Jefferson won the meet by recording a team score of 63 points, finishing one-point ahead of runner-up Glenwood.

For girls varsity, Fellers finished 56th with a time of 18:41, while Vannausdle ran a time of 19:27 to finish 63rd.

Both junior varsity teams had competitors, but not enough to record a team score for the meet. Palmer was the top finisher for the JV boys as he placed 93rd with a time of 22:32. Robinson was one second behind Palmer, placing 94th. Allensworth took 117th with a time of 25:55.

Bevin Griffen finished 82nd with a time of 24:54 for the girls JV team. Leatha Bennett finished 86th and Erica Sherman was 87th, respectively.

For the middle school boys, Weston Rolenc was the top finisher, placing fifth with a time of 12:21.

Justin Bernard finished 38th with a time of 14:32 and Sean Griffen was 47th with a time of 14:52.

The team will be back in action Thursday when they compete at the Shenandoah meet.