Six Montgomery County runners made the trip up Highway 19 to compete in the Wellsville-Middletown Invitational on Sept. 25.

All six of them came back down Highway 19 as medalists.

Seniors Beckham Cothren, Brendan Craven and Maddie West, juniors Katlyn Kolling and Cooper Sellenriek and sophomore Jacob Roesner earned medals for the Wildcats at the W-M meet, which was held at the Wellsville-Middletown R-I campus. It is the second year in a row MCHS had six runners receiving medals at the W-M meet.

The top 15 finishers in boys and girls races received medals. Roesner turned in the best finish for the MCHS boys, placing 10th with a season-best time of 20:38. Cothren finished 13th with a season-best 21:05, Craven came in 14th with a 21:17 and Sellenriek got 15th with a 21:20 in the boys race. Kolling finished fourth with a 27:28 and West placed 10th with a 34:47 in the girls race, which had only 10 competitors.

“It’s the first meet of the season for a lot of us,” Craven said. “I say it’s a terrific job considering that.”

Craven and Sellenriek ran for the first time this season. Roesner and Cothren competed in their third meet of the year. Kolling and West hadn’t competed in a race since the season-opening Mexico Invitational on Aug. 30.

Roesner, Cothren, Craven, Sellenriek and Kolling picked up medals at the W-M meet for the second straight year, while West celebrated her first medal of her high school cross country career.

Kolling, who has been competing in cross country since last year, said the medals at the W-M meet gave her and her teammates some motivation as the cross country team approaches the second half of its season.

“It definitely helps our confidence,” Kolling said.

West, who joined the cross country program in her sophomore year, said she enjoyed competing at the W-M meet for the first time.

“Wellsville puts on a great, small cross country race for the surrounding counties,” West said.

Besides MCHS and W-M, Clopton, Bowling Green, Community R-6, Marion County, Silex, Van-Far and Brashear were the other schools that competed in the W-M Invitational. Runners competed in a flat course that starts just north of the school. They do two loops around the W-M campus.

“It’s a nice flat course and it’s good competition for all of us,” said Craven, who has been competing with the Wildcats since he was a freshman.

Roesner was the MCHS boys’ top finisher at the W-M meet for the second year in a row. Last year, he came in seventh with a 19:48.

“I felt really good,” said Roesner, who started cross country last fall. “The runners were very supportive with everyone else. I’m very proud of my other fellow runners.”