It was the home meet for the Hiawatha Redhawks and highlighted it with top performances but the entire meet told success of multiple Kanzaland area runners and schools.

The top two individual performances went to Hiawatha on the day as sophomore, Jordan Puvogel continued her dominance winning another race on the season, while registering her best time of the year 15:21.42. Puvogel fellow Redhawk junior, Tyler Boeckman raced his way to a win on the day, also. Boeckman battled from third place early on in the race to surpass the two runners ahead of him and ultimately capture the boys crown by close to 13 seconds with a time of 17:37.47.

After Jordan, in the girls competition the top five was full of Kanzaland area runners all from different schools, showcasing the great competition in Northeast Kansas in cross country. Horton Charger senior, Leah Murata continued to be one of the top runners in the area and state with yet another second place performance. Following the senior was two youngsters, as ACCHS Tiger freshman, Madison Bissell placed third and Sabetha Bluejay freshman, Taryn Schuette took fourth place. Rounding out the top five finishes was Holton Wildcat senior, Connor Strader.

Three more of the remaining five spots in the top 10 went to Kanzaland racers, also as two more Sabetha Bluejays finished in the top 10: Miranda Huettner finished seventh and Megan Plattner took home tenth place. ACCHS Tigers, also registered another top 10 finisher as freshman, Mackenize Forbes place ninth.

Behind three top 10 finishers and all seven of their varsity runners finishing in the top 10, the Sabetha Bluejays won another team meet crown. Following the Bluejays was the young upcoming ACCHS Tigers team who took second place with only five racers, all freshman. The Horton Chargers placed third as a team.

On the boys side, Boeckman of Hiawatha worked his way to a first place finish, out dueling a runner from Savannah, Missouri and Sabetha Bluejay, Trenton Cox who placed third on the day. The rest of the top 10 had plenty of Kanzaland area flavor, as well. Rounding out the top five was Nemaha Valley sophomore, Colin Lierz taking fourth and Hiawatha Redhawk junior, Conner Winter placing fifth.

As for the rest of the top 10 finishers, four of the remaining five spots in the top 10 were snatched up by Kanzaland area runners all from different schools. Sixth place went to Holton Wildcat, Dalton Colhouer; Falls City Tiger, Brandon Gibson took home eighth; Sabetha Bluejay, Noah Krehbiel raced to a ninth place finish and Hiawatha Redhawk, Baxter Defore registered a tenth place finish.

Like the Sabetha Bluejay girls, the Hiawatha boys finished the meet with three runners in the top 10 pushing them to a team title at the meet. All seven of the Redhawk runners finished in the top 37 of 52 runners in the boys competition. Sabetha continued to have a great meet also with their boys team placing second, followed by Holton in third for the day.

Many area teams have one more regular season meet this week before they set their sites on league meets and then regionals with state on the horizon.

Full results from the Hiawatha Cross Country Invite (click here)

For pictures of the meet visit the photos page (click here)