The hosting Maple Grove Red Dragons had a stellar day at their home course, highlighting the event with the tops girls team, the top two girls finishers Abby Brunenavs and Allison Bohall, a fourth-place finish in boys competition and Lukas Baer landing fifth place for the boys.

The Southwestern boys team made sure that not all of the glory went to Maple Grove as they won the boys competition. The Trojan’ Nate Lewis finished just ahead of Baer with a time of 17:05.94.

Brunenavs finished in first place for the Red Dragons running a time of 21:01.98 on the 3.1-mile course.

“It feels amazing,” Brunenavs said about winning. “It’s our third race of the week so we were a little worried about that, but our girls have just really come together and everyone did amazing today.”

OBSERVER Photo by Christian Storms Maple Grove’s Abby Brunenavs finishes first at the Red Dragon Invitational.

Followed right behind Brunenavs was her teammate Allison Bohall coming in with a time of 21:05.90 and Elizabeth Lai joined them in the top 15 with a time of 22:44.07.

“I tried to start out this one a little slower and use the point because we know this course like the back of our hand,” Brunenavs added about strategy for the course.

The top finishes of Brunenavs, Bohall and Lai helped secure first place narrowly ahead of the Clymer/Sherman/Panama Wolfpack as the Red Dragons finished with 53 points overall and the Wolfpack had 57.

“I’m really proud of my girls for getting the win today,” said Maple Grove head coach Bella Zuroski. “It’s really good for their confidence and they definitely earned it with a good offseason and great beginning of the season of training.”

The Wolfpack was highlighted by top-20 finishes from Hannah Schauman in ninth at 22:01.69, Sol Martin-Lacayo in 11th at 22:16.84, Deidre Cavness in 13th at 22:35.48, Tayden Persons in 16th at 22:49.04 and Leighanne Swan in 18th at 22:59.52.

Other notable finishes for the girls included Jamestown’s Belle Johnson in fifth at 21:34.44, Falconer/Cassadaga Valley’s Hannah Madonia in sixth at 21:34.46, Randolph’s Sydney Smith in eighth at 21:47.05, Gowanda’s Autumn Pupo in 10th at 22:09.26, Maple Grove’s Hannah Tarbrake in 19th at 23:10.51 and Dunkirk’s Siera Porpiglia in 20th at 23:16.95. Gowanda’s Calie Hudson was 22nd at 23:33.91, Maple Grove’s Presley Haines in 25th at 23:57.51, Southwestern’s Gabby Wigren in 26th at 24:03.10, C/S/P’s Brooke Warner in 27th at 24:03.93, Jamestown’s Myah Crossley in 28th at 24:06.80, Randolph’s Gracyn Rowland in 29th at 24:11.04, Southwestern’s Grace Anderson in 30th at 24:12.96, C/S/P’s Haley Odell in 31st at 24:17.08, Silver Creek/Forestville’s Melanie Wilson in 32nd at 24:22.92, Falconer/Cassadaga Valley’s Sarah Elder in 33rd at 24:24.55 and Fredonia’s Julia LeBaron in 38th at 24:56.65.

The boys final rankings were not as close with Southwestern finishing in first with 64 points, while Allegany-Limestone was second with 103, Jamestown had 119 in third, Maple Grove took fourth with 128 and Falconer/Cassadaga Valley narrowly was fifth with 129 points.

The individual winner was Brody Jones from Pioneer blazing past the competition with a time of 16:31.38. What put Southwestern over the top was the many high finishes from the team with Lewis leading the way with a time of 17:05.94 in fourth place. After Lewis for the Trojans was Ethan Luce in seventh at 17:34.72, Trenton Shutters in ninth at 18:18.25, Brendan Luce in 22nd at 19:06.49, Jacob Johnson in 24th at 19:19.40, Griff Bogdanowicz in 26th at 19:24.54, Donavin Brown in 28th at 19:44.09 and Trey Faulk in 29th at 19:47.13.

“I was happy with my performance, I had a personal record today,” said Southwestern’s Lewis. “It was a little bit of a hilly course so I am hoping to improve on that time in the future. We have a really good team this year, some nice depth. They all ran well, I’m hoping we improve on our times and make states at the end of the year.”

Other notable finishes for the boys included Falconer/Cassadaga Valley’s Joe Krenzer in sixth at 17:31.51, Randolph’s Roan Kelly in eighth at 17:56.44, Maple Grove’s Ben Cornell in 13th at 18:34.11, F/CV’s Devin Austin in 14th at 18:36.29, C/S/P’s Michael Raven in 15th at 18:52.26, Jamestown’s Tyler Zwald in 18th at 19:03.22, Maple Grove’s Sean Verbosky in 19th at 19:03.89, Jamestown’s Maxwell Knight in 20th at 19:04.10, Jamestown’s Colton Cappalino in 21st at 19:05.02, Gowanda’s Drew Schull in 23rd at 19:08.47, Gowanda’s Chase Bowlen in 25th at 19:21.70, Gowanda’s Jayson Twoguns in 30th at 19:50.65, Jamestown’s Mason McVinney in 31st at 19:52.54, F/CV’s Wyatt Harrington in 34th at 19:56.44, Jamestown’s Jayman Morano in 37th at 20:25.86 and F/CV’s Jaden Binkley in 39th at 20:28.73.