The Steelville High School cross country team continued its strong season with a stellar performance on Oct. 1 at the Cuba Cross Country Meet.

The Cardinals’ boys varsity team won first place as a team and were led by Landon Rutledge, who finished the 5k race with a 17:25.2 time to win the race. Rutledge was stride for stride with Vienna star runner Hunter Schwartze for the majority of the race, but was able to pull away at the end and defeat Schwartze by nine seconds. Owen Rutledge took sixth with a 18:57.3 time to earn a medal. Lucas Garms took 22nd, Max Harmon finished 25th, Jacoby Eaton took 27th, Wesley Keymann finished 29th and Aiden Retkowski ran a personal best time and took 30th.

Steelville’s varsity girls team also put on an exemplary performance in the 5k race, finishing in second place as a team with four runners earning medals with top ten performances. Adalei Perkins finished fourth with a 23:07 time. Lydia Smelser took eighth with a 24:05.9 time, Kendall Brinkley finished ninth at 24:26.6 and Elisabeth Warden took 10th with a 24:42.2 time. Stormee Yates took 26th to round out the Cards’ varsity girls roster.

Steelville’s middle school team also put on a strong performance in the 1.6 mile race, with three runners earning medals in the boys race. Peyton Martin took fifth with a 10:30.7 time, Brantley Booker finished seventh with a 10:37.4 time and Bentley McGinnis finished 11th with a 11:04.6 time. In the girls middle school race, the Cardinals received two top ten medalist performances from Elaina Turnbough who took ninth with a 12:44.8 time and Julianna Collinson, who finished tenth with a 12:48.6 time.

The Cardinals’ next race is on Oct. 11 in Potosi at the 51st annual Potosi Cross Country Invitational.