WAYNESBORO – The Waynesboro Area Senior High School boys and girls cross country teams hosted a tri-meet against Greencastle-Antrim and West Perry on a scorching Tuesday afternoon.
The Waynesboro boys team finished the 3.1-mile course that sliced through iconic Renfrew Park with its top five runners in the top nine. But the Blue Devils claimed the top three spots and also had five runners finish in the top 10 during the Mid-Penn Colonial Division tri-meet.
G-A, on the strength of nabbing six points with only two runners remaining in the top five scoring, earned a 24-31 win over Waynesboro. That despite the Indians running with a strong pack of four consecutive finishers – Jonathan Helman, Noah Bockstie, Xayvian Hollimon and Devin Barger.
Noah Hoxie was Waynesboro’s final scorer with a ninth-place spot.
Things might have been different had the Tribe’s top runner, Will Campbell, been able to finish the race. He was scratched after an injury early in the course, leaving Helman to step up and be his team’s top finisher. Helman beat Bockstie by three seconds (20:26 to 20:29) as the two placed fourth and fifth. Holliman was sixth (20:41) and Barger finished seventh (20:46).
G-A’s Hayden Parks and Joel Amstudtz had a photo finish, with both crossing the line with times of 18:52. Cash Monn was third at 19:21, followed by the four Waynesboro runners and then G-A’s Isaac Boyer in eighth. Logan Bohr clinched the win with a 10th-place finish.
Waynesboro defeated West Perry 42-19.
After the boys race, the Waynesboro Maidens and Greencastle-Antrim were deadlocked after the final runner crossed the finish line at 28 apiece. Waynesboro was awarded the win based on the position of the sixth runner (Braelyn Thompson).
G-A’s Claire Paci and Katherine Board earned the top two places, and Sophia Young added a fifth-place finish after Waynesboro’s Bella Ruefle and Maddie Ruefle grabbed third and fourth places, respectively.
Ella Swart and Allegra Clothier left the Maidens with one more finisher to count toward the final score when they placed sixth and seventh.
After West Perry’s Lila Kretzing crossed in eighth place, Waynesboro’s Robin Turner finished in ninth place.
G-A nabbed 11th and 13th places, which forged the tie.
“Our sixth runner finished just before theirs,” said Waynesboro coach Jen Atkinson. “We’ve had one, maybe two races like this since I’ve coached here. This is my fifth year as head coach and my 32nd in cross country in Waynesboro.”
The weather was brutal. The course isn’t the most runner-friendly either. It features uneven terrain and plenty of hills. In some ways, just finishing the course was a victory to each and every runner.
On the boys’ side, Campbell’s departure from the race must have motivated his teammates, because the foursome of Helman, Bockstie, Hollimon and Barger exhibited pride in effort and also kept the team’s score on the lower side considering that West Perry was a third team with nine runners into the mix.
“It is hard, and that’s why I wanted to go over there and talk to them (after the meet),” Atkinson said. “But they also know that Will was putting everything he had out there. And as a lead, that’s what he’s showing them to do – just put it all out on the course and do the best you can every day. Sometimes your body says ‘I’m done.
“It is uncomfortable, but it’s the same weather for all three teams. You just run in what you have. When we talked about this (Monday), we said it wasn’t a good day to get a best time, but you’re going more for a place to get the win.”
Waynesboro will have the weekend off (the teams won’t compete in an invitational until late September at Carlisle on Sept. 30) and will travel to Newville on Tuesday for a Mid-Penn Colonial Division competition.
Waynesboro’s next home meet is Sept. 19 against James Buchanan.
