By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The annual Adams County Cross-Country Meet came to Manchester High School on September 20, or at least 3/4 of a county meet as West Union chose not to participate this season. Nevertheless, that didn’t dampen the spirits or enthusiasm of the runners and audience assembled around Veterans Stadium.
The team results for the 2023 County Meet were a split as North Adams captured both the junior high girls and boys team titles, while the host Greyhounds took both the high school girls and boys crowns. On the individual side, Manchester’s Leoti Carmen was the junior high girls champion (14:38), while Peebles’ Calen Vogler was the junior high boys champion (12:59).
The high school races saw a pair of three-time county champions defend their titles. In high school girls, Peebles Samantha Seas took the top spot with a time of 20:11 with Manchester senior Connor Darnell took the high school boys race with his winning time of 18:00.
The top seven runners in each of the four races were awarded medals and also named to their respective All-County Teams. You can see those winners in the photos accompanying this story.
Proceeding the junior high and high school contests were a pair of elementary school races, with the Third Grade and Under being won by Manchester third grader Henry Baker and the 4th-6th Grade race taken by North Adams sixth grader Easten Raines.