John Raffel
Sports Editor

SPARTA - It was one of the coolest days of the season for cross country runners and times seemed to indicate that at the Sparta Invitational on Saturday.

Greenville's boys and girls were both third in the Blue Division while Carson City-Crystal's boys, led by race winner Garrett Lacy, was third in the Silver Division and Tri County's girls were fifth in the White Division.

The Greenville girls had 95 points for third while West Ottawa was first with 57. Chelsea Prahl was second overall in 19:24 while Micah Hamman was seventh in 20:28, Shelby Harris was 24th in 21:30, Elin Thorlund was 26th in 21:35 and Mindy Patten was 36th in 22:06.

"This was a good course, not as hilly as ours (at the Greenville Country Club)," said Thorlund, a freshman.

"I haven't seen my time yet but this was a good course," Patten said immediately after the race. "Running in cooler weather like this is more fun."

Temperatures were around 50 when the invitational began Saturday morning.

"Everyone, including varsity and JVs, improved their times today," said Greenville girls Coach Amanda Gerhardt. "It was nice to see Chelsea running well after suffering from heat exhaustion (following a preview race). Being less humid makes it easier to run."

Blake Bitner led the Greenville boys with a 13th-place finisher in 17:34.

"It's the best race I've had all year," Bitner, a freshman, said. "I was in a cold soak last night so I was mentally ready for this race."

"Blake is looking really good," said Greenville boys Coach Nick Springsteen. "He's running smart.

"We're giving the kids times to run in splits. They're doing well with that."

Also for Greenville, Zach Caverly was 17th in 17:44, Kody Donnelly was 18th in 17:47, Mike Moy was 22nd in 17:51 and Kellie Strandberg was 27th in 18:01.

"The time gap from runners one to seven is shrinking," Springsteen said. "We have a lot of competition among the guys. It's making them all stronger."

For CC-C, Lacy had a 15:52 for the CC-C boys, which had 87 points for third place in the Silver Division, compared to 48 for first place Kent City. The Eagle girls were eighth and led by Jacklyn Fisher, who was 26th in 22:41.

"The kids ran pretty well," said CC-C Coach Mark Ryan. "Almost all of them PRed (personal records). We were pleased with them."

Tri County girls were led by Kiah Teunissen, who was second in 20:07.