Beaufort High’s Marlon Belden won the boys race, and May River led the local contingent in the team standings at the Wendy’s Invitational cross country race Saturday at Charlotte’s McAlpine Park.
The Eagles and Sharks competed in the Open Division along with Bluffton, and the local runners made a strong showing.
Belden won the 5K boys race with a time of 15 minutes, 56 seconds, finishing 10 seconds ahead of York’s Brannon Burns. May River’s boys had three runners in the top 13 overall to finish second as a team. Owen Andrews led the Sharks with a fourth-place finish in 16:17, while Tristan Kaplan (16:43) was 11th, and Colin Keck (16:53) was 13th. Bluffton’s boys were 17th in the 32-team field, with Armando Macias Jimenez (17:34) lead the Bobcats in 31st place.
Beaufort’s Shannon Smith (19:19) led all local runners in the girls race, finishing third, while teammate Charlize Antia (20:16) was ninth. The Eagles finished eighth among 25 teams, two spots behind May River.
Emma Peluso (20:15) finished eighth, and Ashlyn Babkiewicz (20:34) was 13th to lead the Sharks, while Bluffton was 13th with Ava Gerschutz (20:50) lead the way in 16th.