Full 2014 Royal Valley Cross Country Results -- click here

With cross country action all over the area, the area teams were split up amongst multiple meets on Thursday and four area schools competed at the Royal Valley Invitational as Royal Valley hosted Holton, Jackson Heights and Sabetha from the area along with four other schools.

At the end of the day it was the lady Panthers of Royal Valley and the Jackson Heights Cobra boys putting together the best team performances. The Royal Valley girls posted 32 points to claim first place, while Sabetha and Holton finished second and third as the only other two schools to compete as teams in the girl’s competition. For the boys Jackson Heights used five Top 20 finishers to claim first place with 58 points, just edging out Royal Valley by two-points, giving the Panthers second place as a team. Sabetha finished one-point behind Royal Valley for third place, while St. Mary's took fourth, Santa Fe Trail placed fifth, Holton finished sixth and Kaw Valley tallied a seventh place showing.

Individually on the day the top area performance came by a Sabetha Bluejay in Keegan Cox who raced his way to a time of 18:13.24 to claim first place by nearly 10 seconds at the Royal Valley Invitational. Corbin Cox and Tyler Huber joined Keegan in the Top 10, placing fourth (19:05.82) and 10th (20:20.81), respectively, while Nick Meyer finished 18th (20:57.62) to also highlight things for Sabetha. In the girl's competition it was Taryn Schuette pacing the Bluejays grabbing a third place finish after posting a time of 17:38.92, while her teammate, Miranda Huettner finished seventh (18:14.91) and Lindsey Aberle placed 15th (20:08.78) for the Bluejays.

The top girl's performance from the area came from Jackson Heights Cobra, Kaitlynn Little who raced to a second place finish behind a time of 17:00.32, while her teammates Alexis Rieschick and Brianna Cattrell each posted Top 20 finishes placing 10th (19:31.27) and 18th (20:25.88), respectively. In the boys race four Cobras notched Top 20 showings with Seth Holliday leading the charge placing fifth behind a time of 19:11.92. Braden Dohl, Westin Jacobsen and Ethan Fund finished ninth (20:17.37), 14th (20:40.27) and 19th (20:57.84).

For the host Royal Valley Panthers the lady Panthers took home first place as a team behind seven Top 20 finishers that included a pair of Top 10 performances. Kaytlyn Gooderl led the way for Royal Valley posting a time of 18:01.55 to place fourth, while Katie Hanshaw notched a sixth place finish with a time of 18:13.07. Tamo Thomas, Deasha Stewart, Brennah Wahweotten, Lydia Johnson and Meaghan Koon all also finished in the Top 20 for the Panthers placing 12th (20:06.36), 14th (20:08.43), 16th (20:12.08), 19th (20:36.76) and 20th (20:45.46). On the boys side of competition the Panthers registered four Top 20 finishes as Patrick Broxterman lead the way placing sixth behind a time of 19:21.74, while Eugene Masquat joined him in the Top 10 finishing eighth with a time of 20:15.47. Arrow Levier raced to a 12th place showing (20:28.77) and Ivan Levier took home 15th place (20:51.07) for the Panthers.

For the Holton Wildcats five Top 20 performances were earned in the boys and girls Royal Valley Invitational cross country races on Thursday. Both, Alex Meyers and Emily Degenhardt notched Top 10 showings in the girl’s race with times of 18:52.89 and 19:03.92, placing eighth and ninth. Alexis Garcia took home the other Top 20 finish in the girls race for Holton finishing 13th (20:08.43). In the boys race it was Riley Strader with the best Wildcat time as he earned seventh place with a time of 19:55.41, while Tanner King placed 17th (20:52.11).