JACKSON, Ohio — The cross country teams from Meigs, River Valley and Eastern all ventured to the Apple City Thursday night to take part in the 2012 Jackson Cross Country Invitational held on the campus of Jackson High School.

Only Meigs and River Valley competed as teams, as Eastern did not have five runners for either the boys or girls competitions. There were also a total of 184 competitors and 17 teams at the annual event.

The Lady Marauders finished fourth overall in the girls division with a team score of 122, while the Lady Raiders placed eighth with a 189. Athens won the girls team title with a 26, followed by runner-up Alexander (62) and third-place Logan (74).

Lara Perrin led MHS with a seventh-place time of 21:47.31, followed by Haley Kennedy (22:07.51) in 11th and Cheyenne Gorslene (24:14.01) in 32nd. Maggie Smith (26:23.43) was next in 55th place, while Tess Phelps (31:51.12) rounded out the team score by placing 80th.

Keyana Ward led RVHS by finishing 19th overall with a mark of 23:02.91, followed by Ramsey Warren (26:07.27) in 52nd and Kayla Browning (28:56.90) in 70th. Morgan Greenlee (29:16.72) and Abby Atkins (33:08.08) rounded out the team score with respective placings of 73rd and 87th.

Junior Keri Lawrence led Eastern and all local runners by placing sixth overall with a time of 21:39.78. Savannah Hawley (22:12.90) was next for EHS and finished 12th, while Chantel Barnhart placed 23rd with a mark of 23:13.12. Kourtney Lawrence (23:57.80) was also 28th for the Lady Eagles.

Allyson Malone of Alexander won the girls race with a time of 19:29.35, more than a minute ahead of runner-up Sue Ryu (21:08.74) of Athens. There were 90 competitors and eight teams in the girls division.

The Marauders finished eighth overall in the boys division with a team score of 201, while the Raiders placed ninth with a 222. Vinton County won the boys team title with a 42, followed by runner-up Athens (49) and third-place Jackson (87).

Brandon Mahr led Meigs by placing 37th with a time of 19:57.63, followed by Mitchell Howard (20:05.98) in 42nd and Jaxon Meadows (20:34.72) in 51st. Bradley Helton (20:38.14) and Forrest Nagy (20:45.77) rounded out the team tally with respective finishes of 52nd and 56th.

James Jackson led RVHS by finishing 44th with a time of 20:17.75, followed by Ethan Hersman (20:18.31) in 45th and Austin Hamilton (20:42.58) in 54th. Kyle Randolph (21:32.55), Andrew Brown (21:35.09) and John Oehler (21:37.81) had respective finishes of 66th, 67th and 68th overall.

Sophomore Tyson Long led Eastern and all local runners by placing 28th overall with a time of 19:09.67. Johann Wolfe was also 63rd for EHS with a mark of 21:21.54.

Ben Haller of Chillicothe won the boys race with a time of 17:34.74, more than 10 seconds ahead of runner-up Sam Stevens-Jones (17:45.70) of Athens. There were 94 competitors and nine teams in the boys division.

Complete results of the 2012 Jackson Cross Country Invitational are available on the web at baumspage.com