Peebles seventh grader Katy Seas closes in on the finish line on her way to winning the junior high girls race at last week’s West Union Invitational.
Peebles seventh grader Katy Seas closes in on the finish line on her way to winning the junior high girls race at last week’s West Union Invitational.

Pennywitt, Shupert, Seas take individual races –

Story and photos by Mark Carpenter –

Eight different schools from southern Ohio sent varsity or junior high cross-country teams to West Union High School on Oct. 4 as the Dragons hosted their annual West Union Invitational.  Besides the host squads, runners from Manchester, Lynchburg, Peebles, Ripley, Portsmouth Notre Dame, Eastern Brown, and Western Brown gathered for the competition, which began with a preliminary elementary one mile race won by Nick Seas from Peebles.
Next up was the junior high girls race (41 runners) with the expected battle between Peebles seventh grader Katy Seas and Manchester eighth grader McKenzie Morrison.  This time the battle went to Seas as she took the race in a time of 12:56, with Morrison second at 13:04.  Coming in third was West Union’s  Adelyn Shupert at 13:50.
Other Adams County finishers who were in the top 15 and earned medals for their efforts were: Abby Freeman in sixth place (14:!5.65), Katie Fulton of West Union in eighth place (14:28), Kendra Grooms of West Union ninth (14:34), and Josie Chamblin of Peebles 15th (15:37).
The junior high girls team trophy went to Eastern Brown with their low score of 32, with Manchester second and West Union third.
Next to the start line were 64 runners for the junior high boys race,which was dominated by Eastern Brown and Western Brown,who combined to capture the five spots,with Eastern’s Andres Vargas winning with a time of 12:07.  The top finisher from Adams County was West Union’s Jai-Michael Knox, who placed eighth in a time of 13:05.  Teammate Braxton Blanton was 11th with a time of 13:17 and the Dragons’ Chris Schulz was next in 12th at 13:21.  Also earning medals from the county were Manchester’s Denton White (14th, 13:40) and Peebles’ Bryce Willoughby (15th, 13:45).
The junior high boys team trophy went to Western Brown with their score 38, with Eastern Brown second and West Union third.
Thirty girls made up the high school girls race and the home team defended its turf as West Union’s Anna Shupert took the top spot, coming to the chute in a time of 22:22.  Second place went to Manchester’s Shyanne Tucker at 22:36, with Peebles’ Alisan Behr third in a time of 23:25.  Sixth place went to Peebles’ Abby Faulkner at 23:44, seventh to Manchester’s Billie Kinhalt at 24:04, and 10th to Manchester’s Taylor Morrison at 24:45.  Rounding out the medalists from Adams County were West Union’s Katrina Boldman (11th, 24:47), Manchester’s Kelsey Friend (13th, 26:29), West Union’s Rebekah McCarty (14th, 26:25), and West Union’s Morgan Edmisten (15th, 26:30).
The Lady Hounds of Manchester took the high school girls team title with a low score of 32, with West Union second with 40.

Manchester junior Jamie Combs placed second behind teammate Ethan Pennywitt in the high school boys race at the Oct. 4 West Union Invitational.  Combs finished the race with a time of 18:34.
Manchester junior Jamie Combs placed second behind teammate Ethan Pennywitt in the high school boys race at the Oct. 4 West Union Invitational. Combs finished the race with a time of 18:34.

The day ended with 52 runners in the high school boys race and it was Manchester’s Ethan Pennywitt continuing his outstanding fall season, by grabbing first place,  Pennywitt, who has already broken the MHS school record twice, won in a time of 17:35, with teammate Jamie Combs placing second with his time of 18:34.  Third place went to West Union’s Janson Kramer at 18:48. Peebles took the fifth and sixth spots in the race with Sammy Smith and Seth Chamblin respectively at 19:16 and 19:19. Adam Fulton of West Union was seventh at 19:24 and teammates Steven Runyan and Gabe Chamblin were 11th and 12th with times of 19:52 and 19:53.  Also earning medals from the county were the Manchester duo of Austin Stamper (13th, 19:58) and Dalton Williams (14th, 20:18).
When the high school boys scores were tabulated, it was a clean sweep for Manchester as their boys took the team trophy with a low score total of 46.  West Union was second at 52 and Peebles third at 84.
All of the Adams County cross-country squads now look ahead to this coming Saturday when they will be traveling to Ripley High School for the 2016 Southern Hills Athletic Conference Meet, all looking to bring a conference championship back to their school.