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The Lady Pioneers claimed the girls team title, their second invitational championship of the young season, and the Pioneer boys were runners-up in their 5K race at Brown City.

Lisa Shaw, coach of the C-L girls squad, said the conditions were tough on all runners. "Actually, they were letting people hand out bottles of water - the humidity was so bad - .... and that doesn't happen, usually. On that course, there's not much shade either."

The Cros-Lex girls finished with a low score of 53, topping BWAC rival Richmond by eight points.

For Shaw and her team, it was their first look at Richmond this season. "We knew they would be tough because they really came on last year."

Sophomore Leah O'Connor led a group of seven Lady Pioneers that finished in the top 30 and earned a medal. She placed fourth overall in a time of 22:10.2. Other medal winners were Erika Lerma (6th, 22:55), Joz Worden (11th), Michaela Maze (14th), Amanda Kalso (18th), Julia McEntee (21st), and Lauren Martinelli (25th).

Five other area girls took home a medal, led by Chelsea Mata of Marlette (12th). Joining her were teammates Kayla Romosier and Sarah Smith and Brown City's Katherine Kreiner and Katie Takacs.

Utica, a first-time competitor at the Brown City Invitational, claimed the boys title with 42 points. Cros-Lex was next with 66 while host Brown City was fifth out of 10 schools.

The Pioneers had three runners finish in the top eight - Josh Matthews (3rd, 18:49.3), Taylor Kasper (5th, 19:29.2), and Adam Martinelli (8th, 19:57.7). Sophomore Asa Choate (20th) also medaled for C-L.

"We're really excited for the boys," said Shaw, whose husband, Rick, coaches the boys squad. "It's the first time they've beaten some of our league schools."

Coach Russ Reitz of Brown City was happy to see three of his runners grab a medal.

"This was a tough meet for us," said Reitz. "We ran against some big schools, so fifth place is a respectable finish for us."

Jesse Williams (16th), Andrew Tidrick (21st) and Matthew Proctor (29th) were BC's medal winners.

Marlette's Robert Fingerle (25th) was also in the top 30.

Muskrat Classic Inv.

Best times of the season were recorded by every Cros-Lex harrier, boys and girls, at Saturday's Muskrat Classic in Algonac. The Lady Pioneers were fourth in the Division 2 team standings while the C-L boys were third in the Division 2 race.

For the Cros-Lex girls, O'Connor placed 10th overall in 20:36. Lerma (17th, 20:52) and Maze (20th, 20:58) also eclipsed the 21:00 mark. Matthews paced the Pioneer boys with a personal-best time of 17:39, good for 10th. Martinelli was 14th in 17:56.