At Saturday’s Blue & Gold Invitational, the Fatima boys’ cross-country team won the event 49-89 over Paris, followed by (3) Stover 96, (4) St Clair 104, (5) Vienna 138, (6) New Haven 171, (7) Helias 181, (8) St Francis Borgia 197, (9) South Callaway 238, (10) Hallsville 269, (11) Jefferson City 281, (12) California 286, (13), and Linn 305.

“Our boys’ team had solid performances,” said Coach Marc Bridges. “We didn’t do anything out of the ordinary — just good pack running and consistent performances.”

Michael Gabelsberger led the way with a third-place run of 17:40, as Wyatt Dake (7, 18:32) and Brady Horton (12, 18:57) finished in Fatima’s second and third spots. 

“The strength of our boys team lies with our 4-6 runners,” said Bridges of Trenton Orscheln (14, 18:59), Zack Eisterhold (17, 19:19), and Zach Kloeppel (18, 19:20). “If these boys continue to have solid races, we feel pretty confident heading into districts.”

Next to cross was Evan Klouzek (47, 20:41), followed by Tucker Schroeder (51, 20:51), Karson Fudge (91, 23:29), and Hank Kampeter (97, 24:22).

In the girls’ race, Brie Massman paced the team with a time of 20:52 for second place, Melissa Verslues was fourth in 21:24, and Heidi Struemph took seventh (22:44).

“Melissa had another very good race,” said Bridges. “She is definitely trending in the right direction heading into the postseason. Heidi had her first race since Oct 4. It was great to get her in the line-up and have a race before districts. All of our girls ran well, and we hope to use this race as a springboard at districts as we try to qualify for the state meet.”

St Francis Borgia (51) won the meet, followed by (2) Paris 58, (3) Fatima 58, (4) Cap City 96, (5) Linn 120, (6), and St. Clair 122.

Fatima runs in the Class 2, District 3 meet at Linn on Saturday.