Jungling, Tyler sweep individual titles in Grundy Center

PARKERSBURG – Sophia Jungling and Mason Tyler took the top spots in their respective varsity races as the A-P cross country athletes led their teams at the unseasonably-warm Spartan Invitational at Town and Country Golf Course in Grundy Center last Thursday.

The A-P boys also collected the overall team title with a team score of 50, led by Tyler's time of 17 minutes, 20 seconds.

Tyler and South Hardin's ZaKee Newman separated themselves from the pack around the halfway point, with Newman and Tyler neck-and-neck down the final stretch before a final kick sent Tyler streaking ahead of Newman for the title.

"Coming in with about four or five hundred meters to go, I knew if I wanted to get going I'd have to get closer," Tyler said. "(Newman's) coach told him to take off, so then I knew I'd have to make my move right then. … We were going into this meet looking to win it and we competed well, everybody had to deal with the hot weather and we just had to play it tough."

Hunter Brouwer finished in fifth place for A-P in 17:52, followed by Grant Truax in 12th in 18:11, Jack Maitland in 15th in 18:39 and Brent Gibson rounding out the top five runners with a 17th-place finish in 18:46.

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A short-handed A-P girls team still managed a sixth-place team finish, led by Jungling's finish in 20:07. Miranda Oldenburger was 16th in 24:18, Ella Junker 28th in 25:30, Laikyn Miller 40th in 27:42 and Madison Oldenburger closing out A-P's top five in 41st in 27:47.

Read more in the Sept. 27 Eclipse.

Slideshow: A-P cross country at Grundy Center (click here to see photos in thumbnail form)