Last Wednesday at Hood Park in Cuba, cross country fans got to experience two meets for the price of one.

Gasconade Valley Conference (GVC) officials decided to use the annual Cuba Invitational also as the GVC meet due to all five conference schools already there.

Racing began with the middle school divisions with harriers from Bland and Vienna nearly claiming half of the medals for top-20 finishes.

Bland’s Jackson Prater won the middle school boys race in a time of 9:16.1.

Also posting a top-10 time from Maries County was Vienna’s Paxten Jeremy (2nd, 9:33.8), Bland’s Coltin Hazelwood (3rd, 10:01.5), Vienna’s Eli Messersmith (10:15.9) and Vienna’s Tanner Hallahan (8th, 10:19.9).

Vienna topped the middle school boys team standings with 59 points while Bland and Waynesville both accumulated 61 team points.

Waynesville was given second place with their sixth runner finishing higher than Bland’s.

Bland’s Michael Felton (11th, 10:25.0) and Vienna’s Alex Wieberg (15th, 10:57.7) also earned medals at Cuba.

Other county runners competing in Cuba included Bland’s Alden Zabel (23rd, 11:17.7), Bland’s Dakota Stockton (26th, 11:33.3), Vienna’s Dreygen Messersmith (33rd, 11:49.6), Bland’s Weston Sadler (37th, 12:09.7), Vienna’s Drew Crum (41st, 12:34.9), Bland’s Treyton Huebner (42nd, 12:39.8), Vienna’s David Martin (49th, 13:00.2), Bland’s Barrett Zumwalt (51st, 13:05.2), Bland’s Ryker Huebner (55th, 13:25.3) and Bland’s Braxton Elrod (65th, 15:41.6).

In the middle school girls race, four county harriers left Cuba with medals led by Bland’s Ava Prater with a sixth-place time of 11:35.5.

Following Prater in the top 10 were Vienna’s Sophia Neubert (7th, 11:37.1), Bland’s Skylar Stevens (8th, 11:40.5) and Vienna’s Emerson Jeremy (10th, 11:54.3).

Competing additionally from Maries County in the middle school girls race were Bland’s Marianne Francis (17th, 12:59.1), Vienna’s Zoe Hawk (20th, 13:14.7), Vienna’s Kaitlyn Carpenter (21st, 13:14.8), Vienna’s Elise Kilmer (29th, 14:04.7), Bland’s Cora Langston (38th, 15:07.3) and Vienna’s Riley McKinnon (49th, 16:52.6).

Moving into the high school portion of racing, Belle’s Tigers (29) were edged by Steelville (26) in the GVC team standings while Vienna placed second to Waynesville’s 38 team points with 66 of their own during the Cuba Invitational.

Earning All-GVC honors for Samantha Ridenhour’s Tigers were Garrett Gehlert (2nd, 19:01.1), Barrett Finnegan (6th, 20:57.8) and Miles Frey (7th, 21:00.5).

Also helping Belle place second in the GVC team standings were Malachi Fredendall (9th, 21:15.4), David Skaggs (10th, 21:16.8) and Karsin Seifert (13th, 23:40.0).

Three Vienna Eagles earned medals during the Cuba Invitational led by Hunter Schwartze’s fourth-place time of 19:09.7.

Cooper Auten (7th, 19:41.4) and Bryce Ewers (11th, 20:26.9) also earned medals for the Eagles in Cuba.

Vienna harriers helping them place second as a team behind Waynesville included Thomas Douglas (16th, 20:50.2), Tyler Hallahan (33rd, 23:56.3), Ethan Rex (34th, 24:11.4) and Dalton Timm (37th, 24:45.0).

Varsity girls action saw an even tighter race in the GVC team standings.

Belle’s Lady Tigers scored 37 team points but were edged by Steelville with 36 team points.

Earning All-GVC honors for the Lady Tigers were sophomore Nolie Finnegan (2nd, 23:52.5) and senior Tajel McDaniel (6th, 25:32.5).

Additional Lady Tigers helping Belle place second in the GVC were Saylor Kent (10th, 27:05.2), Kenadie Bailey (11th, 27:05.4), Ellanor Kent (12th, 28:22.2), Allania Moore (18th, 30:41.0) and Lorraine Smith (19th, 33:34.3).

Vienna’s Lady Eagle duo of Marissa Hollis (13th, 26:23.4) and Kaylee Bresnahan (14th, 26:26.3) both earned medals for the black and gold with their top-15 finishes at the Cuba Invitational.

Other Lady Eagles helping Vienna place fifth as a team with 98 points were Naomi Clark (22nd, 29:25.9), Ava Kloeppel (31st, 31:06.6) and Jezabel Bordonaba (39th, 38:07.7).

After hosting the inaugural Show-Me Central Conference (SMCC) Cross Country meet at Vienna City Park, VMS and VHS harriers will both run at the Dixon Invitational on Monday, Oct. 14.