VIENNA — The Vienna boys and girls cross country teams traveled to Westphalia on Oct. 25 to compete in the Fatima Cross Country Invitational, where 16 schools took part. Participating teams included California High School, Capital City High School, Chamois, Eldon High School, Fatima, Hallsville, Helias Catholic School, Jefferson City High School, Linn, New Haven, Paris High School, South Callaway High School, St. Clair High School, St. Francis Borgia High School, Stover High, Tipton High and Vienna.

In the Varsity Boys 5000-meter run, Vienna placed fifth out of 13 teams, finishing just behind St. Clair in fourth, Stover in third, Paris High in second and Fatima, who took first place. Leading runners for Vienna were Hunter Schwartze, who placed fifth overall with a time of 17:48.64, and Bryce Ewers, who came in ninth with a time of 18:50.08.

The top finisher in the boys 5000-meter run was Landen Chapman from Paris High School, who clocked in at 16:51.47.

In the girls 5000-meter run, the Lady Eagles did not qualify for team placement due to not having enough runners, but individual performances stood out. Freshman and season leader Sophia Neubert placed eighth out of 58 runners with a time of 23:05.58, finishing three minutes behind first-place runner Margaret Barnes of Helias Catholic High School, who won with a time of 20:26.64 at the contest.

Other Vienna runners included Kaylee Bresnahan, who placed 34th in the girls division with a time of 26:10.82, and freshman Paxten Jeremy, who finished 31st in the boys 5000-meter run with a time of 20:04.02.

The team will travel to Vandalia on Nov. 1 to compete in the MSHSAA Class 1 District 3 meet which will be covered in next week’s edition of the Advocate.