DARLINGTON — Though the day was expected to be hot, the North Crawford runners came prepared to compete in the Darlington Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 5. Race time for the runners was expected to be upward of 80 degrees, but some unexpected rain brought the temperatures to manageable numbers with low 70-degree temperatures.

Taking advantage of the cooler temperatures was the girls varsity race, where senior Will Dworschack was the first Trojan to cross the finish line, ending in 23rd place in a time of 23:22.2. Not far behind her was freshman Martha Bransky, showing her strength early in her career and finished in 28th in a time of 23:43.4 out of 77 varsity runners. Also finishing for the Trojans were Madison Gander, 68th 27:50, Faith Krause 69th 27:55.2, Grace Corlis 73rd 29:33.4, Brianna Mack 29:58.7 and Bernadette O’Brien 76th 30:04.4

On the boys team, showing his strength due to some extensive off-season training was Jacob Bransky, who finished in ninth place overall in a great time of 18:06.0. That’s the best finish for North Crawford at this meet in many years due to the extremely high level of competition with many Division 1 and 2 teams competing. Next for the North Crawford squad was senior Brady Allbaugh, who finished in 36th place, just out of awards as the top 35 receive them, in a time of 19:42. Next for the boys was junior Dylan Ghormley in 53rd in a time of 21:11.7, sophomore Cameron Steyer in 74th with a time of 23:00.9, freshman Dominic Carstens in 87th 25:08.8, Brayden Friar 88th 25:14.6 and Caleb Dull in 95th 29:56.2.

“This is a very big meet for us,” Coach Mike Allbaugh said after the meet. “To see Jacob finish this well is a good sign. I hope all of the younger athletes can learn from him to see what it takes to get to the level he is at. Willa and Martha also performed at a high level and put in a lot of summer work. I am excited for the size of our team and to see how far we can go this year!”