Chamois cross country coach John Leach said the Fatima Blue & Gold Invitational is getting to be a solid prep meet for Pirates to end the season.

“It is getting to be a Class 2 and 3 meet, but it is a good course to run before districts,” said Leach. “The hill is not fun to run twice, but it really sees where you are. I am proud of the all the runners because it is a hard course to run, but I want to give a shout-out to Emma (Mehmert). She ran the course sick after two days of illness at home. All these runners attack the course and I think they all wanted faster times. I’m very proud of them.”

Carly Schollmeyer had the best place of the day, earning 38th in 26:51, as Mehmert finished 48th in 29:12.

In the boys’ race, Grayson Gerloff finished 57th in 21:08, followed by Evert Mehmert (71, 22:13), and Kaden Wuelling (83, 22:56).

ALL FIVE MEDAL AT VIENNA

On Oct. 20, all five Pirates earned a medal at the 10th annual Vienna Autumn Classic.

“This turned out to be a really good meet for us,” said Leach. “Seeing all of them get medals was awesome. It was a smaller meet so all of them had a chance.”

Gerloff’s fifth-place run of 21:40 led the team, as Evert Mehmert was eighth in 23:51, and Wuelling finished 13th in 24:31.

On the girls’ side, Emma Mehmert was eighth in 27:42, and Schollmeyer posted a time of 28:20 for ninth place.

“They ran for Kaden’s dad who is battling prostate cancer,” said Leach. “It was something else on their minds that day. I am so proud of the runners for thinking about the bigger picture and not just themselves and running the course. They are good young people.”

Chamois travels to Vandalia for the Class 1, District 3 meet on Saturday.