OWENSVILLE — Bland Middle School (BMS) and Belle High School (BHS) harriers coached by Samantha Ridenhour made the short trek east on Highway 28 last Tuesday for the annual Owensville Invitational Cross Country meet on the Owensville High School campus looking to claim as many medals as possible against a field of bigger schools.

In middle school boys action, Jackson Prater returned to his winning ways posting a first-place time of 11:18.41.

He was joined in the medals by teammate Michael Felton with a third-place time of 12:21.26.

Also helping the Bears place third as a team with 94 points were Alden Zabel (14th, 13:30.67), Ryker Huebner (44th, 15:34.69), Tharon Kent (56th, 16:14.56), Treyton Huebner (74th, 17:29.41) and Braxton Elrod (90th, 18:51.56).

Skylar Stevens joined the list of medalists in the middle school girls race with a sixth-place time of 14:50.72 for the Lady Bears.

Lady Bears following Stevens across the finish line included Gracelyn Jarvis (21st, 16:31.04) and Cora Langston (35th, 19:12.19).

Belle’s Lady Tiger duo of Ellanor Kent (13th, 23:42.72) and Kenadie Bailey (23rd, 24:23.01) rounded out Maries County’s quintet of medalists from Owensville.

Allania Moore (61st, 30:02.08) and Saylor Kent (62nd, 30:06.76) also crossed the finish line for Belle in the varsity girls race.

Leading Belle to a seventh-place team finish in the varsity boys race was Malachi Fredendall’s 32nd-place time of 20:31.14.

Also on the course for Belle’s varsity boys were David Skaggs (34th, 20:47.21), Coltin Hazelwood (39th, 21:18.35), Connor Weigel (40th, 21:19.11) and Miles Frey (44th, 21:31.77).

Competing yesterday (Tuesday) in the annual Gasconade Valley Conference (GVC) Cross Country meet at Steelville, Bland will compete this Saturday in the Missouri Middle School Championships at Hermitage while Belle will prepare for the MSHSAA Class 2, District 3 meet on Saturday, Nov. 1 in Linn.