The annual cross country meet at Nishna Hills was ran on Thursday with the Atlantic Girls’ finishing sixth and the boys’ team finishing tenth. Between all six races ranging from middle school to high school varsity there were 23 teams that competed. The running conditions were ideal for the varsity races at 5:00 and 5:30 with that crisp fall air and cool breeze in the atmosphere. In the boys’ varsity race, Lincoln Pius X went 1-2-3 to win the race as a team in a landslide finishing with 26 points. The top Atlantic finisher was Sophomore Mason Betts who placed ninth and ran a 17:11.4 5K. Betts was surrounded by Riverside athletes as the top three Bulldog runners finished eighth, tenth and eleventh. Leading the way for Riverside was Brody Henderson running a 17:09.8. The Bulldogs came in second with 73 points, followed by Red Oak, Earlham and Kuemper Catholic rounding out the top five. Atlantic’s tenth place finish resulted in 261 points.

In the girls’ race St. Albert’s Lilli Denton finished roughly 50 seconds before the second-place finisher resulting in a landslide victory for her. The first Trojan to cross the finish line was Senior Katrina Williams in 16th place running a 21:25.1. After Williams, it was a 25th place finish for Freshman Kaitlyn Hickman with a run of 22:07.9. Lincoln Pius X won the girls’ race as well with 43 points. Behind the Thunderbolts was Treynor, Harlan, Glenwood, Earlham and Atlantic finishing sixth place with 148 points.

Senior Katrina Williams was grateful to run her home course one last time.

The familiarity of the course gave seemed to keep Atlantic more comfortable compared to other places.

Williams said the breeze made it more difficult on the second half.

Head Coach Dan Vargason was pleased with the effort out of the girls’ team.

Vargason applauded Betts’ performance on the course.

The goal is Fort Dodge moving forward for the Trojans.

Atlantic is back in action at the Hawkeye Ten Conference Meet in Shenendoah Thursday, October 16th.