Today the Wildcats traveled to Gibson Southern for the Alan Hopewell Invitational. The Cats had a strong showing despite a disrupted week of training due to the heat wave. Both programs look to be finding their stride as the season progresses and both teams brought home awards in todays class races. Makayla Schiender and Maddie Abel both earned ribbons in the Jr/Sr race. Maddie had her best race of the season so far and knocked 35 seconds off her time from last season at this event. Today was also the debut race for Rachael Shockley who just missed earning a ribbon by one spot. In the Fr/Soph race Madison Cooper earned a ribbon with a 15th place finish in her division and 21st overall in the field of 80 girls. The girls will have a full roster when they travel to Crawford County and will get their first chance to compete as a team. The boys continued to show strength in numbers as they pack ran today with only 10 seconds separating spots 3,4 and 5. Marcus Riecken earned a spot on the podium today as a top 10 finisher in the Jr/Sr race and 14th overall. Avery Capes set a new personal record (19:44) knocking 55 seconds off last years time and finished 34th overall. Thomas Scates also set a new personal record today and earned a ribbon in the Jr/Sr race and finished 38th overall in the field of 102 boys. Jake Gross (20:00) and Logan Greenwell (20:10) both set new personal records and earned ribbons in the Fr/Soph race. William Lemberg showed he is racing his way back into form. William knocked 51 seconds off of his previous outing. Ty Lange made a big step forward today as he knocked 2:35 off time compared to the Boonville race. The most exciting stat for the boys team is the improvement in depth. The Cats number 5 runner today was 30 seconds faster than last seasons number 2 runner. As numbers 3-5 continue to move forward in the field the team is going to be in the hunt for some podiums showing there is strength in numbers. The team finished 6 out of 11 teams but was only 19 points from fourth place. Both teams take a break in the action next week. They have a solid training block the next two weeks as the prepare for the Crawford County Invite. The invite is another class race and the athletes have their eyes set on bringing home more medals and ribbons.