From staff reports

LAWRENCE — The Dowagiac boys’ and girls’ cross country teams both finished third at the Lawrence Invitational on Friday.

Hartford won the boys’ race with 41 points, edging Paw Paw, which finished with 44 points.

Dowagiac was third with 82, Eau Claire fourth with 91 and the host Tigers fifth with 92.

Paw Paw’s Kyle Richardson was the overall winner with a time of 17:13.

The Chieftains’ Chris Gantt was third with a time of 17:38.

Finishing 16th for Dowagiac was Ryne Wilming with a 20:16. Jason Turner was 20th (21:32), Julian Marshall 26th (22:56), Tyler Cross 27th (23:05), Shane Filley 35th (26:17), Austin Jackson 37th (27:23) and Christian Hess 38th (31:51).

Paw Paw easily won the girls’ championship with 20 points.

Hartford was second with 38 points and Dowagiac third with 87.

Lawrence and Eau Claire rounded out the order of finish with 101 and 112 points respectively.

Paige Sutcliffe of Paw Paw was the overall winner with a time of 20:55.

Sammy Mathews led Dowagiac with an 18th place finish and a time of 26:57.

Holly Luth finished 24th (29:40), Sara Long 25th (30:07), Alexa Batty 26th (30:16), Kayla Yakim 27th (30:22) and Kendra Wilson 28th (31:15).

Rebecca Luth was 29th (31:59), Paige Charles 30th (32:30), Allison Hassle 34th (33:29), Corinne Kasper 35th (33:54), Sarah Hassle 37th (35:30) and Erin Stanton 38th (35:31).

“We were pleased with the effort of all our athletes,” Dowagiac coach Ken Jordan said. “It was the first cross country race for half of our kids. We were missing some runners today that are going to be a big help for us in the future.”

Dowagiac will participate in the Rotary Meet on Saturday at the Dowagiac Middle School.

Dowagiac volleyball

BERRIEN SPRINGS — The Dowagiac varsity volleyball team lost in the semifinals of the Berrien Springs Invitational on Saturday.

The host Shamrocks knocked off the Chieftains 25-20 and 25-11 in the semifinals and then went on to defeat Edwardsburg for the championship 11-25, 25-20 and 15-10.

In pool play, Dowagiac was defeated by Berrien Springs 25-18, 25-5 and by Bridgman 25-21 and 25-12.

The Chieftains split with Eau Claire 25-12 and 20-25.

“I thought we played extremely well,” first-year Dowagiac coach Bill Anderson said about his team’s first competition of the season. “I thought we made a lot of mental mistakes. We competed against every team there, but it was easy to see that they clearly have played together for a period of time. Those teams have jelled, while we are still getting there.”

Dowagiac will host Buchanan tonight in its home opener.

Dowagiac statistics

Kills

Kaisha Martin 22

Hope Daniel 10

Carly Polomcak 9

Aces

Kiele Belew 14

Hope Daniel 8

Digs

Devon Ownby 42

Hope Daniel 18

Assists

Katie Lorenz 57