By By AUTUMN GRAYSON / Niles Daily Star
ST. JOSEPH – The girls and boy's Niles cross country teams finished with the same ranking at the Berrien County Championships Saturday, with both squads in fourth place.
Buchanan's girls' team took third place as they had two runners finish in the top 10 and their boys' team ended in sixth place out of the 15 teams present. Brandywine's boys' team was eighth.
Lakeshore captured first place in the girls, race, scoring 32 points. St. Joseph, Buchanan, Niles and Berrien Springs rounded out the top five, respectively.
Amanda Balk of Lakeshore (19:21), won the race by almost one minute.
The Vikings' Madie Rodts, second place finish (20:14) resulted in her best time of the season. Buchanan's Torrie Eger ended in third, running a time of 20:31.
Placing for the Vikings was Liz VandenHeede (13th, 21:47), Autumn Grayson (14th, 21:49), Bree Donahue (35th, 23:38), Stephanie Kolloff (61st, 25:58), Allie Hoyt (70th, 26:45) and Nikki Horvath (75th, 28:10).
For the Bucks' Elizabeth Hein (9th, 21:28), Courtney Adolph (30th, 23:25), Chelsea Adolph (31st, 23:27), Liz Reith (37th, 23:57), Ashley Best (44th, 24:30) and Stephanie Reith (46th, 24:48) were also finishers.
Ashley Harrell was 12th for Brandywine (21:45) with Kylee Salisbury (63rd, 26:03), Jordenne Ferenezi (64th, 26:23) and Nicole Newman (68th, 26:38) also finishing for the Bobcats. They did not have enough runners to score.
In the boys' race, St. Joseph took the championship earning 30 points. Bridgman, Lakeshore, Niles and Berrien Springs also finished in the top five, respectively.
Niles' Mark Calhoun won the race (16:46) just in front of Berrien Springs, Kyle Banish (16:47).
Brett Ortiz also finished in the top ten for the Vikings (9th, 17:43) along with Shawn Calhoun (28th, 18:48), Anthony Horvath (44th, 19:48), Caleb Bliss (83rd, 22:38) and Paul Mooney (85th, 22:55).
Finishing for Buchanan was Jon Borr (14th, 18:01), Rick Reith (35th, 19:21), Jon Kuntz (48th, 20:04), Jon Young (50th, 20:08), Josh Tidey (56th, 20:29) and Alan Morse (82nd, 22:30).
Tyler Weedon led Brandywine with a 10th place finish (17:50). Also finishing for Brandywine included Elliott Richards (32nd, 19:04), Aaron Sieting (51st, 20:09), Tom Buzzard (81st, 22:16) and David Dykema (84th, 22:40).