Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

The Junior High Cross Country team traveled to Danville Thursday afternoon for their Conference Championship races. With near perfect running conditions the girls were first out the gate as Joan Gearheart tried to establish a dominant lead but could not hold off two Tri-West runners to finish in third place with one of her best times this season at 12:07. Lyla Kinsler finished 15th with a new personal best time of 13:34 and shaving 30 seconds off of her best time this season. Claire and Jaili Torp had almost identical second best times of the year by getting within 20 seconds finishing with a 14:26 (24th) and 15:07 (31st) respectively. The sixth grader Bristol McCord showed up in a big way with a personal best time of 15:10 in 32nd place and Autumn Palmer also ran one of her best races this season despite taking a fall early in the race but pushed her way to 39th place in 16:55. The girls team finished 4th overall in the Conference but collectively they put together their best combined team time of the season. In the boys race it was Aiden Lester who showed no mercy to any challengers and cruised his way to be the 2023 Sagamore Conference Champion with a 23 second lead over the next runner coming in at 10:45. Sixth grader Ari Smith broke into the top ten finishing 9th with a 11:56, his second best time ever. Brentton Palmer finished 42nd with a 14:25 followed closely the entire race by Rex Stanley in 43rd with another break out personal best time this season in 14:32. Another sixth grader that continues to improve was Hayden Trenary with a new personal best time (taking off 25 seconds) finishing 44th in 15:45. The boys team finished 6th overall and also posted the best combined team time of the season by taking off over a minute and a half. The Conference was the race the team has been training for all season and every individual showed up to give everything they had, proving that their hard work and commitment has paid off. They will be put to the test one last time on Saturday for the Middle School State Championships in Terre Haute. Let's go Webo!