Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms Boys Cross-Country team 1st, girls team 3rd at JWP/WEM Grizzly Invitational

The Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms boys and girls cross-country teams competed at the 10-team JWP/WEM Grizzly Invitational in Janesville Thursday, and it was the boys team earning a first place finish with 46 team points, with Maple River in second with 63 points, and a fast-improving girls team finished third with 75 points, only behind Maple River, who was first with 52 team points, and host JWP/WEM with 64 points.

Head Coach John Bruns reported that the depth of the boys squad was one of the biggest factors in their first-place finish as the top seven runners for the Blossoms all finished before any other team had their fifth person in.  Will Sunde ran the top time for the Blossoms Thursday, as he took 7th with a time of 20:07, Brecklin Cochlin was 11th overall with a time of 20:31, teammate Ty Forstek was right behind in 12th place also with a time of 20:31, Isaac Fort was 17th with a time of 22:02, and Derek Kubicek followed in 18th place with a time of 22:18.

For the Awesome Blossoms girls cross-country squad, who finished better than four teams Thursday that had beaten them at a meet in Blooming Prairie two weeks ago, Gloria Hernandez led the way with a fourth-place finish with a time of 22:28.  Sophia Esplan was 19th for the Blossoms Thursday with a final time of 24:55, Bella Romeo was rightbehind in 20th place with a time of 25:00 flat, and Haley McIntosh was 21st with a time of 25:02.