Opening their season last Wednesday at the Vienna Eagle Invitational at Vienna City Park, cross country runners from Bland, Belle and Vienna looked to keep as many medals as possible in Maries County.

Once all five races concluded, a total of 14 medals and one piece of team hardware stayed in the county.

Starting with the middle school races, Vienna’s Bryce Ewers had the high finish for Maries County with a fourth-place time of 10:34.5.

Bland’s Jackson Prater led the Bears with a seventh-place time of 10:58.0.

Earning the final medal among Maries County runners for the middle school boys was Vienna’s Tyler Hallahan with a 19th-place time of 11:24.4.

Vienna’s boys placed third as a team with 90 points just shy of team hardware with California taking the second-place trophy scoring 83 team points.

Other Eagles helping Vienna to a third-place team finish were Gage Curler (21st, 11:28.6), Eli Messersmith (26th, 11:36.8), Tanner Hallahan (34th, 12:32.5), Dalton Timm (39th, 12:47.7), Zachary Wansing (40th, 12:53.6), Drew Crum (48th, 13:24.5) and Alex Wieberg (49th, 13:25.3).

Bland placed seventh as a team with 179 points with finishes from Alden Zabel (27th, 12:00.0), Ryker Huebner (56th, 14:15.4), Dakota Stockton (57th, 14:29.7) and Weston Sadler (52nd, 14:40.8).

In the middle school girls race, two Bland Lady Bears and a Vienna Lady Eagle earned medals with their top-20 finishes.

Ava Prater led the way for Bland with an 11th-place time of 13:04.6 followed by Skylar Stevens placing 14th in 13:20.0.

Sophia Neubert grabbed the 20th and final medal for Vienna in a time of 13:31.6.

Other Maries County harriers in the middle school girls race included Bland’s Marianne Francis (28th, 15:11.0), Vienna’s Zoe Hawk (32nd, 16:02.6), Bland’s Allania Moore (35th, 16:17.5) and Vienna’s Riley McKinnon (38th, 17:13.5).

High school racing began with the combining of the junior varsity boys and varsity girls.

Belle’s Adrien Hoehne earned one of five medals from the JV boys race with a third-place time of 25:22.0

Two Belle Lady Tigers earned medals in the varsity girls race with their top-15 finishes.

Freshman Nolie Finnegan led Belle with a sixth-place time of 25:37.2) while junior teammate Tajel McDaniel earned a medal with her 10th-place time of 27:25.1.

Natalie Gehlert rounded out Belle’s trio with a 20th-place time of 29:35.8.

Vienna freshman Kaylee Bresnahan led the Lady Eagles with a 43rd-place time of 34:51.0 followed by Ava Kloeppel’s 44th-place time of 36:12.5.

Varsity boys racing saw Vienna’s Eagles claim second-place hardware with 71 team points behind champion New Bloomfield’s 56 points.

Out of 15 possible medals, five stayed in Maries County led by Vienna’s Duncan Wilkson with a third-place time of 19:50.9.

Belle’s Baylar Smith took fifth in 20:25.6 followed by Vienna’s Brayden Ewers with an eighth-place time of 20:47.4.

Tiger sophomore Garrett Gehlert claimed ninth place in 21:04.5 while Vienna freshman Hunter Schwartze grabbed the 15th and final medal in a time of 21:36.4.

Also helping Vienna to a second-place team finish were Gavin Schwartze (23rd, 22:23.1), Jackson Kilmer (28th, 22:46.0), Cooper Auten (33rd, 23:06.1), Thomas Douglas (52nd, 24:54.9) and Ethan Rex (56th, 26:19.4).

Helping Belle place fourth as a team with 111 points were Connor Weigel (22nd, 22:13.5), Barrett Finnegan (36th, 23:26.8) and Miles Frey (47th, 24:18.6).

Both schools will run at Steelville tomorrow (Thursday).