CROSS COUNTRY: Bulldog Classic cross country meet held Friday
GES fifth grader Piper Riff took first place at the Gainesville Bulldog Classic elementary girls race with her time of 12:09.63.
GES fifth grader Dante Thome took first place at the Gainesville Bulldog Classic elementary boys race with his time of 11:20.
GHS freshman Jessica Suit took first place in the girls high school race, finishing in 22:05.09.
Archer Luna, GHS sophomore, took third place in the 5000 meter run with his time of 19:24.02.
GJHS seventh grader Aiden Thome placed first in the middle school 2400 meter run with his time of 10:02.86.
Annabell Snelson, eighth grade, took first place in the middle school 2400 meter run, 11:26. This photo was taken at the Willow Springs meet where Annabell took sixth out of 73.
Gainesville hosted the Bulldog Classic cross country meet Friday, Sept. 13. Six Gainesville teams competed at the meet: boys fourth and fifth grades; girls fourth and fifth grades; middle school boys; middle school girls; high school boys and high school girls.
Elementary and middle school teams raced 1.5 miles. Top finishers were fifth grader Dante Thome, first place elementary boys; fifth grader Piper Riff, first place elementary girls; eighth grader Annabell Snelson, first place middle school girls; seventh grader Aiden Thome, first place middle school boys.
Both Gainesville middle school teams took first place at the event.
Gainesville freshman Jessica Suit finished the high school 3.1 mile race in 22:05 and won first place. Suit and her teammates Alyssa Smith, Sarah Klessig, Lauren Smith and Lillian Hejdk took first place as a team at the meet also.
Sophomore Archer Luna took third place with his time of 19:24.02. Fordland’s Brayden Cunningham and Eric Wilson took first and second place. Seniors John Potts-Packe and Isaac Pippin came in fourth and fifth place. The Gainesville boys team took second place; Fordland took first.
The meet took place the day after traveling to Willow Springs for the Steve Waggoner Invitational meet on Thursday, Sept. 12, where athletes from 29 schools representing all classes competed.
The junior high boys finished in 10th place as a team. They were led by seventh grader, Aiden Thome, who placed 22nd out of 124.
The junior high girls finished in third place as a team. They were led by eighth grader, Annabell Snelson, who placed six out of 73.
The high school boys finished in eighth place as a team, led by sophomore Archer Luna, who placed 13th out of 29. Senior John Bottes-Papcke finished 24th and received a medal.
The high school girls did not receive a team score due to having only four runners representing. Freshman Jessica Suit had an impressive sixth place overall finish out of 78 runners.
The Bulldogs next meet is at 4 p.m. today Sept. 18 in Alton.