Cuba’s High School and Middle School cross country teams hosted the Cuba Invitational and Gasconade Valley Conference (GVC) Meet Oct. 19 at Hood Park. GVC teams Bourbon, Belle, Viburnum and Steelville all competed in the event along with Arcadia Valley, Bismarck, Bunker, Chamois, Kingston, Salem and the Missouri School of the Deaf.

Steelville High School’s boys’ varsity team won the GVC with their performance and Belle’s girls team claimed the GVC girls’ title.

  Cuba Middle School’s team was originally scheduled to wrap up its season Oct. 10 in the Cuba Junior High Meet, but the schools decided to merge both meets into one day. Bourbon’s middle school girls team took first place and the Lady Wildcats finished in second. Arcadia Valley took first place in the boys and girls high school races. 

The middle school athletes competed in a 1.6 mile race and Cuba seventh grader Karter Peters stole the show. Peters took first place in the boys race with a 10:53.45 time, and wasn’t done for the day. About two hours later, Peters led Cuba Middle School’s Boys’ A basketball with 21 points in their 51-27 victory over Bourbon. 

Gage Baker, Jensen Myers and Boone Medows also ran in the middle school boys race. Baker finished in eighth place with a 11:58.71 time. Myers ran a 12:54.87 and earned 12th place. Medows crossed the finish line in 13:42.41, which was good for 14th place.

Bourbon middle schoolers Justin Evans and Walter Wertich were the only Warhawks competing in the boys race. Evans took 18th with a 15:02.72 time and Wertich finished in 20th with a 19:17.33 time.

Bourbon’s middle school girls team had four runners finish in the top-six. Eighth graders Eva Wertich, Mina Williams and Auria Williams came in third, fourth and fifth place, respectively and sixth grader Clara Gibbs took sixth place. Wertich crossed the finish line in 12:31.55, Mina Williams completed it in 12:36.24, Auria Williams ran a 12:51.42 and Gibbs finished with a 13:12.27 time. Bourbon seventh graders Amiyah Vineyard and Hadleigh Harper also competed, earning 12th and 13th with 15:39.64 and 15:54.43, respectively.    

Naomi White, Lilian Yates, Olivia Copeland, Lily Craig and Aleah Leos all competed in the middle school girls’ 1.6 mile race for Cuba. White took seventh place with a 13:55.85 time. Yates ran a 13:58.56 to finish in eighth place. Copeland completed the race in 14:46.13, which was good for 10th place. Craig took 15th with a 16:50.67 time and Leos earned 16th with a 18:08.27 finish.

Cuba junior Ella Basham continued her third high school campaign as the Wildcats’ top runner, regardless of gender in the high school 5k race. Basham, Cuba’s only female runner on the team, took ninth place after finishing with a 23:57.56 time. She finished in 6th in the GVC, earning all-conference honors with her performance.

Cuba’s high school boys team had seven runners compete in the varsity 5k race. Freshman Tristan Cross was the first Wildcat to cross the finish line. Cross took 30th place with a 21:16.36 time. Ryan Ray finished in 37th with a 21:41.22 time. Brody Bayless ran a 22:01.70 to earn 42nd. Jamison Scott finished in 49th after running a 23:16.96 time. Jackson Herwig crossed the finish line in 23:31.53, taking 53rd. Zaylen Kammer took 58th with a 24:04.25 time and Matthew Herwig finished in 62nd after running a 25:04.88 time.

Bourbon High School had a pair of All-GVC performers. Freshman Elijah Frederick finished in sixth overall in the boys 5k and took fourth place among GVC runners with a 18:52.18 time. Senior Leah Negretti earned eighth place among GVC girls runners and took 20th overall after crossing the finish line in 26:49.33

Freshman Alaina Evans also competed in the girls varsity race, finishing in 33rd with a 30:20:22 time.

Freshman Joshua Gibbs and junior Paul Studdard also competed in the boys varsity race. Gibbs took 38th place with a 21:44.39 finish and Studdard earned 54th place with a 23:50.40 time.

The season for both school’s middle school teams ended following the meet. Bourbon and Cuba’s high school teams will have almost two weeks off before running in the Oct. 31 Class 3 District 3 Meet in Owensville.