FRANKLIN, IN - It was a hot and humid Saturday morning at the Franklin Invitational, but the Bloomington South Panthers were able to beat the heat and bring home a pair of team trophies. Bloomington South put five runners in the top twenty of both the boys and the girls race, winning both races in decisive fashion.
In the boys race, it was Terre Haute North's Dylan Zeck that got out to the early lead with Bloomington South runners Ryan Rheam and Zander West trailing a few seconds behind. The powerful Center Grove team chose not to employ the services of their top runners for this event, leaving the individual race to be decided between Zeck, Rheam, and West.
Rheam was able to cross the gap and race with the leading Zeck inside the last mile of the race, but Zeck ultimately held on to win in 16:13.13 with Rheam close behind at 16:16.50. West rounded out the top three at 16:32.74.
Bloomington South took the team win with 41 points, and Perry Meridian was comfortably second with 89 points. Mooresville won a tight race for third, just ahead of Franklin Community, Indian Creek and Terre Haute North.
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Hometown favorite Lauren Klem led wire to wire in the girls race to take the win in 19:26.38. Klem's closest competition came from Abby Fleetwood, who was actually competing as a junior varsity runner as she awaits clearance to compete for Indian Creek after transferring from Brown County.
Fleetwood would have finished a close second to Klem had she been running varsity, but as it was second place went to Seymour's Vivienne Siefker who finished in 19:54.33. Lily Myers out of Bloomington South just missed out on the twenty minute mark, running a 20:00.38 to finish third.
Bloomington South scored 46 points to win the girls team race, with Franklin Community scoring 69 to finish second. Seymour was third with 122 points, ahead of Indian Creek and Corydon Central.
We look forward to another great weekend of cross country action next week, when we will have complete meet coverage of the Rick Weinheimer Classic at Columbus North!