HERMANN — Competing in two meets in three days last week, Samantha Ridenhour’s Bland Middle School (BMS) and Belle High School (BHS) made the most of it competing at Hermann last Tuesday and Licking last Thursday.

Even though Jackson Prater’s race winning streak came to an end at seven, he still led the Bears with a second-place time of 9:07.80 followed by teammate Michael Felton in a fifth-place time of 10:05.

Also helping the Bears place fifth as a team in Licking with 115 points were Alden Zabel (29th, 11:50.30), Tharon Kent (57th, 12:56.60), Ryker Huebner (63rd, 13:05.80), Treyton Huebner (69th, 13:20.60) and Braxton Elrod (94th, 15:47.70).

For Bland’s Lady Bears at Licking, they were led by the duo of Skylar Stevens (23rd, 13:10.60), and Gracelyn Jarvis (24th, 13:14).

Cora Langston (49th, 14:51.70) and Marianne Francis (70th, 17:03.10) also ran for the Lady Bears at Licking.

Placing eighth as a team with 168 points in a competitive varsity boys division, Belle’s Tigers were paced by sophomore Malachi Fredendall who posted a 31st-place time of 19:30.40.

Also helping the Tigers place inside the top 10 as a team were David Skaggs (32nd, 19:32), Coltin Hazelwood (35th, 19:43.10), Connor Weigel (41st, 20:03.20) and Miles Frey (63rd, 21:15).

Varsity girls action saw Lady Tiger sophomore Ellanor Kent sneak inside the top 20 with a 19th-place time of 22:40.40.

Also on the course in Licking for Belle’s Lady Tigers were Kenadie Bailey (22nd, 23:04.90), Allania Moore (54th, 29:02.70) and Saylor Kent (62nd, 30:59.70).

Last Tuesday at Loutre Shore Country Club north of Hermann, Prater (1st, 11:03.15) and Felton (2nd, 11:51.67) took the top two spots for the Bears in the middle-school boys division.

Also helping Bland place eighth as a team in Hermann with 226 points were Ryker Huebner (77th, 15:07.73), Tharon Kent (84th, 15:16.56), Treyton Huebner (15:50.89) and Elrod (146th, 18:53.29).

Stevens led the Lady Bears in Hermann with a 24th-place time of 15:18.40 four spots shy of the top 20 and a medal.

Jarvis (33rd, 15:48.37) and Francis (37th, 16:10.66) also finished in the top 40 for Bland’s Lady Bears at the Hermann Invitational.

Belle’s Tigers placed sixth as a team with 138 points led by senior Connor Weigel’s 25th-place time of 19:57.74.

Also posting top-30 times for the Tigers at Hermann were Hazelwood (26th, 19:59.49), Fredendall (27th, 20:00.16) and Skaggs (29th, 20:03.71).

Frey rounded out Belle’s contingency of varsity Tigers with a 39th-place time of 20:43.49 at Hermann.

Ellanor Kent (14th, 23:24.23) and Bailey (18th, 24:03.95) left Hermann with medals for Belle’s Lady Tigers with their top-20 finishes in the varsity girls race.

Moore (58th, 29:34.04) and Saylor Kent (64th, 30:34.69) were also on the course for the Lady Tigers.

Belle will return to action on Tuesday, Oct. 21 in the annual Gasconade Valley Conference (GVC) Cross Country meet at Steelville City Park with racing scheduled to start at 4 p.m.

Bland harriers ran last night (Tuesday) in the Owensville Invitational and will end their season during the Missouri Middle School Championships meet on Saturday, Oct. 25 in Bolivar.