Wawasee Junior Harriers Making Moves

Written on September 3, 2014 by Staff Reporter

Categories: Sports Archive 2014

Tags: boys and girls cross country, Chatauqua-Wawasee Event, luke griner, mckenzie smith, Wawasee Invitational, Wawasee Middle School

The Wawasee middle school cross country team won both the Wawasee and Prairie Heights invitationals recently. From left to right are Spencer Hare, Ben Hoffert, Ethan Carey, Parker Bame, Braxton Alexander, Jace Alexander and Luke Griner. (Photos provided)

SYRACUSE – The Wawasee Middle School cross country teams have been rather successful to begin its 2014 campaigns.

Wawasee middle school cross country runner McKenzie Smith was the individual champion at the Wawasee Invitational.

Last weekend at the Prairie Heights Panther runs, McKenzie Smith led the way for the girls varsity team finishing fourth overall. The Lady Warriors put four runners on the awards podium in Smith, Katie Haines (6th), Lila Gregory (9th) and Valeria Pizana (12th) and placed second overall as a team with 54 points. St. Charles/St. Jude Middle School won the team title with 50 points.

Wawasee’s Luke Griner won the boys varsity race in a time of 11:00 and was joined on the awards stage by Spencer Hare (4th), Braxton Alexander (5th), Ben Hoffert (7th) and Jace Alexander (15th). The boys team brought home first place honors, scoring just 32 points while St. Charles/St. Jude finished second with 46 points.

Wawasee opened its cross country season Aug. 26 at the third annual Wawasee Cross Country Invitational. Smith won the girls varsity race in a time of 11:55 while Griner won the boys varsity race in 10:50. In the seven-team field, the Wawasee girls brought home the winner’s trophy with a score of 24 to Fairfield’s second-place 52 points. Not to be outdone, Wawasee’s boys also won, scoring just 25 points to Lakeview’s 67 points.