The Oskaloosa girls won the Eddyville-Blakesburg Invitational held on Tuesday at the Eddyville High School with a score of 30 points.

Sara Dickinson and Brooke VanHouweling ran to another 1-2 finish with Dickinson winning in a personal-best time of 14:28.4, while VanHouweling’s runner-up time was also a personal best 16:24.7. Jess Grahek also grabbed a top-10 finish with her eighth-place time of 18:22.5 with Lyric Morris running to 11th place in 18:49.0 and Courtney Converse finishing 18th in 20:03.3 Paige Walter and Alisha Poncy rounded out the varsity 7 finishing in 19th (20:08.5) and 21st (20:39.4) respectively.

“We had a very nice team effort tonight with our 3-7 girls running in a nice pack for most of the race,” Oskaloosa coach Keith Comfort said. “I thought the girls really raced hard tonight and the efforts paid off for them with a nice win.

“Jess and Lyric have been making nice progress in the 3-4 spots with Courtney, Paige, Alisha and Dana VanRhenterghem fighting for the other three spots. They are all really supportive of each other and are making each other better. This team has been making nice strides through the season and I think we are ready to make another step forward down the improvement continuum. I couldn’t be prouder of these girls.”

VanRhenterghem led the JV effort finishing in 20:08. Avery Whitis, Mica Doolan, Megan Adams and Anthea Anderson rounded out the scorers for the JV team.

“Avery had one of her better races of the year today and I thought she raced very well,” Comfort said. “Our other JV girls also are showing continuous improvement. Amanda Stefanik and Ginny Lane also ran for the Indians. A fantastic effort by the whole team!”

The Oskaloosa boys team finished runner-up to Albia scoring 49 points to Albia’s 38.

John Andersen led the Indian effort finishing in second place with a time of 18:14.8. Ryan McPherren also cracked the top 10 with a strong sixth-place finish in a time of 19:06.0. Isaiah Thompson (12th), Bryan Kunz (14th), Shannon Koski (15th) and Max Holle (16th) were packed up finishing within 16 seconds of each other.

“They really raced hard tonight and had a nice team race,” Comfort said. “Albia was just a little better at the pack game than we were and were able to edge us out. I was very encouraged by the team effort and hope we can continue to see this kind of effort by our team in the coming meets. It’s all about learning to run hard when you are tired and work through the pain barrier and we are still learning how to do that. We’re getting there, just not quite there yet. A great job tonight though.”

Jon Fash led the JV runners running a time of 21:08. Senior Ryan Wells ran his first race of the year after fighting an illness and had a fine time of 21:23.

“It was good to have Ryan out there and hopefully we can get some strength built back into him for the rest of the season,” Comfort said. “He came though the race pretty well, so we hope to have him on track by the time we get to the conference meet. We are continuing to show improvement in our times and in our ability to race against the clock as well as our competitors. This is a great bunch of kids and they work hard and support each other and that is what I am most proud of.”

The middle school kids also ran with Ben Ruarp leading the boys with his 12th-place finish, with Bryan Herr and Adam Genskow close behind in 14th and 15th place. Riley Berg was the top girl in the middle school race, finishing in second place with Sarandyn Curtis and Stephanie Smith finishing in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

“We had five girls in the top 10 in the girls race, so they proved themselves well. This middle school bunch has some talent in them and I really like their attitude and work ethic,” Comfort said.

Oskaloosa is off until Sept. 30 when it competes in the Knoxville Invitiational.