PHS girls win Marion County cross country meet

The PHS girls and boys cross country teams competed in the Marion County R-II meet in Philadelphia, finishing first and second respectively.

Laurin Sheputis led the Lay Panthers with a third best time of 22:34.6.

“Lauren Reid had a great bounce back meet after a disappointing conference finishing fifth (23:25.3),” said Coach Nicholas Koetters.

Aly Noland placed sixth at 23:36.1, Lydia Szarka came in seventh (23:43.7) and Bella Perkins finished 10th (24:09.5).

“Having our five scorers in the top 10 is awesome and has been a goal of ours to put our top kids in a group ahead of other teams,” Koetters said.  

The Panthers were led by Casey Hathaway, who placed second with a time of 19:21.9.

“Casey was in 4th with about 400 meters to go and then kicked it in and passed two people and almost caught first place as well,” Koetters said. “It was a great run for him and a great finish.”  

Caleb Juette placed seventh (20:55.8) and Jacob Barnes, 15th (22:54.2) also medaled for the boys who had a close team race with Mark Twain but couldn’t quite get close enough.