Led by sophomore Braden Burk, the Switzerland County Pacer boys cross country team captured the ORVC championship on Monday night. Braden Burk, the meet’s overall individual winner, covered the Hanover College course in a time of 17:46 – 33-seconds ahead of the meet’s second place finishers.
Switzerland County finished with an impressive team score of 32 to easily outdistance second place South Ripley, which finished with 51. Rising Sun was third with 52; Southwestern was fourth with 102; Jac-Cen-Del was fifth with 122; and Milan was sixth with 166. Madison Shawe competed individually, but did not have enough runners to have a team score.
Overall, six Pacers earned All Conference honors by finishing in the top 12 of the race.
Along with Braden Burk, Switzerland County saw runner Quinn Meyer finish fourth overall in a time of 18:33; and Anthony Dennis was sixth in a time of 18:40.
Sean Oatman was 10th overall with a time of 19:26; Talen Taylor was 11th in 19:27; Mikhail Cole was 12th in 19:42; and Michael Douglas was 22nd in a time of 20:46.
“These guys deserve a ton of credit for their performance,” Coach Mark Boggs said. “They run for each other and it showed in the race. We are also pleased to see six boys earn All Conference recognition for their hard work.”
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The Lady Pacers battled through injuries that hampered the team through much of the season, and still turned in an impressive third place overall finish in the conference meet.
Southwestern won the conference with a team score of 51; followed by Madison Shawe with 58; Switzerland County with 66; Jac-Cen-Del with 71; Rising Sun with 113; and Milan with 137.
Individually, freshman Robin Furnish continued her impressive season with a fourth place overall finish in a time of 22:56 to lead the Lady Pacers. Paige Ridener was fifth overall in a time of 23:04 – and both runners earned All Conference honors for their efforts.
Allie Mathews finished 16th overall in a time of 24:36; Jaclyn Hart was 19th in 25:02; Kenzie Dye was 27th in 26:20; Samantha Reynolds was 32nd in 28:09; and Adeli Kinne was 34th in 28:32.
“I was very proud of how these girls stuck together and competed throughout the race,” Coach Boggs said.