VIENNA — Opening their cross country season last Wednesday at the Vienna Eagle Invitational, Samantha Ridenhour’s Belle High School and Bland Middle School harriers looked to leave the Maries County Fairgrounds with as many medals as possible.

A pair of Bland Lady Bears earned the first medals of the day with Gracelyn Jarvis taking 15th in a time of 12:59.3 and Roxy DeDual placing 17th in 13:10.7.

They helped the Lady Bears place fourth as a team with 89 points behind Vienna (36), New Bloomfield (41) and Steelville (82).

Rounding out Bland’s contingency of Lady Bear runners at Vienna were Chesley Frey (27th, 14:30.1), Cora Langston (31st, 14:37.1) and Harper Ridenhour (38th, 16:25.5).

Bland’s Middle School boys only had four runners compete in their race which was one shy of being eligible for a team score.

Treyton Huebner (33rd, 12:45.7) and Liam Lewis (34th, 12:46.1) led the Bear foursome at Vienna followed by Deacon Stockton (73rd, 17:55.7) and Grayson Tyler (74th, 18:19.6).

High school racing started with the junior varsity boys and varsity girls starting at the same time from Vienna.

Belle’s trio of Alden Zabel (1st, 23:28.3), Ryker Huebner (24:05.8) and Tharon Kent (3rd, 24.45.0) stayed in the top three the entire race claiming three of the 10 medals among JV boys.

Making her varsity debut, freshman Skylar Stevens led the Lady Tigers with a sixth-place time of 25:57.4 helping Belle placed third as a team with 58 points behind Stover (37) and New Bloomfield (56).

Ella Kent also left Vienna with a medal following her 11th-place time of 27:46.1.

Rounding out Belle’s Lady Tiger contingency of runners in Vienna were Allania Moore (22nd, 32:25.2), Marianne Francis (26th, 34:27.6), Sedora Carroll (27th, 34:47.0) and Saylor Kent (30th, 35:56.7).

In the final race from Vienna, Belle’s varsity boys placed second as a team with 87 points behind Vienna’s first-place team total of 46 points.

Both Maries County squads finished ahead of Steelville (95), Stover (104), Laquey (108), New Bloomfield (124), California (149) and Russellville (174) in the varsity boys team standings.

Picking up where he left off after a solid eighth-grade season, Tiger freshman Jackson Prater earned a fifth-place medal with a time of 19:29.6 while two of his teammates also collected medals for their top-20 finishes in Vienna.

Fellow freshman Michael Felton placed ninth in 19:54.8 while sophomore Coltin Hazelwood grabbed one of the final medals with a 19th-place time of 21:22.1.

Also helping the Tigers place second as a team was Malachi Fredendall (23rd, 21:48.9), David Skaggs (37th, 24:02.8), Braxton Ahart (38th, 24:05.2) and Miles Frey (41st, 24:27.2).

Saturday in Linn, the high school races were held first followed by middle school action later in the morning.

Prater led the varsity Tigers placing second in a time of 17:45.07 narrowly behind Blair Oaks senior Caiden Casey (1st, 17:44.73).

Out of 13 scoring teams, Belle placed eighth with 192 points behind Blair Oaks (65), Fulton (110), St. James (111), New Haven (130), Hermann (138), New Bloomfield (140) and Stover (162).

Finishing behind Prater for Belle’s Tigers in varsity action was Hazelwood (30th, 20:14.21), Skaggs (53rd, 22:09.60), Ahart (68th, 23:34.86) and Frey (76th, 24:10.17).

Varsity girls action saw Belle placed sixth in the team standings with 146 points behind Moberly (43), Blair Oaks (48), Versailles (76), Fulton (96) and New Bloomfield (141).

Stevens (20th, 25:01.93) and Ellanor Kent (22nd, 25:09.63) both left Linn with medals around their next via their finishes within the top 30.

Also helping the Lady Tigers place sixth as a team were Francis (59th, 29:33.37), Moore (65th, 31:40.99), Carroll (32:29.11) and Kenadie Bailey (73rd, 33:48.93).

Finishing first, second and third at Vienna days earlier, the trio of Ryker Huebner, Tharon Kent and Zabel looked to all finish within the top 10 again Saturday in Linn.

Huebner led the Tiger trio with a fifth-place time of 22:22.21 followed by Kent (8th, 22:49.00) and Zabel (9th, 23:04.15).

In middle school racing at Linn, Bland’s Bears had only three harriers compete in Osage County led by Lewis’ 56th-place time of 15:04.41.

He was followed by Treyton Huebner (60th, 15:14.20) and Stockton (119th, 20:46.65).

Bland’s Lady Bears placed 10th as a team in Linn with 222 points behind New Bloomfield (75), Thomas Jefferson (80), Lewis and Clark (104), Owensville (127), Versailles (151), Elsberry (172), Fulton (189), Bourbon (189) and Hermann (207).

Jarvis led the Lady Bears with a 33rd-place time of 16:07.26.

She was followed Saturday in Linn by DeDual (36th, 16:18.29), Frey (51st, 17:07.12), Langston (58th, 17:25.99), and Ridenhour (19:40.62).