GRINNELL — Bailey Blythe and Skylar DeJong ran to top-3 finishes at the Grinnell Invitational Tuesday.

Blythe was second in the time of 16:09 while DeJong was third in 17:07.

“Bailey ran a very strong race,” Oskaloosa coach Keith Comfort said. “She gets better each outing and you can see her confidence growing with each race. She is goiing to be a very good runner.

“The other freshmen girls (Melanie Harvey, Brey Hill and Alex Koenig) have shown continued improvement as well.”

The Oskaloosa girls team finished eighth out of 12 teams with 208 points.

“We were about where I would have expected us to be,” Comfort said. “Our potential continues to be higher though and I think we will get there by the end of the year. We need to get a little tougher in the second half of races and learn to run hard when we are tired.”

DeJong’s time helped Oskaloosa to finish ninth in the team race with 195 points.

“Skylar DeJong also had a very nice race,” Comfort said. “Sky has been running well and getting stronger each race. With he, Spencer (DeJong) and Kamron (VanHulzen), we have a solid top three, we are just trying to develop the next three. We have too big of a gap between the top three and the next three and to be competitive, we need to narrow that gap.

“(The finish) is about where I thought we were capable of finishing. We have the talent to move up higher with some more work.”

The Oskaloosa Middle School saw its first action on the road course as Sienna DeJong and Colton Berg both getting top-3 finishes.

DeJong was runner-up in 7:48 while Berg was fourth in the time of 7:24.

“The middle school kids had their first race as well and did a great job, Comfort said. “We have 20 kids running and for some it was the first cross country meet for them. They all did great, particularly given the few number of practices we have had.

“It was another hot and humid running evening. The teams ran well and I continue to see improvement.”

The Indians hold their invitational Tuesday at Edmundson Park.

Grinnell Invitational

Girls

Team standings — 1. Williamsburg 71, 2. Grinnell 71, 3. Ottumwa 103, 4. Pella 104, 5. Benton Community 135, 6. Vinton-Shellsburg 146, 7. Newton 171, 8. Oskaloosa 208, 9. Knoxville 232, 10. Union 264, 11. Belle Plaine 309, 12. Gladbrook-Reinbeck 313.

Varsity

Oskaloosa — 2. Bailey Blythe 16:09, 43. Melanie Harvey 19:16, 49. Lesley Roquet 19:28, 55. Brey Hill 20:01, 59. Kelsey Roquet 20:34, 61. Alex Koenig 20:50, 64. Riley Berg 21:12.

Junior Varsity

Oskaloosa — 44. Julia Coniglio 20:54, 50. Natalie Whitis 21:15, 56. Meghan Toubekis 21:31, 83. Morgane Cloesen 22:36, 88. Lauren Gorski 22:49, 93. Brooke Beers 23:31, 94. Angela Hyland 23:36, 107. Kenzie Gunter 24:30.

Middle School

Oskaloosa — 2. Sienna DeJong 7:48, 20 Melissa Moorman 8:47, 28. Lexi Randau 9:02, 42. Anna Jones 9:17, 50. Claire Fiechtner 9:36, 51. Allie Hafner 9:37, 70, Kamryn Beers 10:07, 82. Gillian Gross 10:29, 96. Jessabelle Opheim 11:35, Emily Grahek 12:07, 107. Marta Iverson 12:27.



Boys

Team standings — 1. Pella 28, 2. Grinnell 97, 3. Newton 106, 4. Vinton-Shellsburg 144, 5. Benton Community 155, 6. Ottumwa 161, 7. Williamsburg 175, 8. Oskaloosa 189, 9. Knoxville 209, 10. South Tama 226, 11. Pella Christian 326, 12. Lynnville-Sully 370, 13. Belle Plaine 386, 14. Union 391.

Varsity

Oskaloosa — 3. Skylar DeJong 17:07, 15. Spencer DeJong 18:16, 35. Kamron VanHulzen 19:22, 70. Caleb Fisher 21:03, 72. Gerrit VanMaanen 21:12, 75. Logan Gross 21:41, 76. Johannes Hartman 21:50.

Junior Varsity

Oskaloosa — 69. Graeme Kuba 22:53, 105. Jared Buckallew 24:55, 134. Devion Versendaal 26:32.

Middle School

Oskaloosa — 4. Colton Berg 7:24, 26. Spencer Nelson 8:28, 34. Addison Vandewall 8:49, 36. Jack Miller 8:51, 43. Aaron Bowie 9:15, 45. Nickolas Schaffner 9:26, 54. Garrett Gilliland 9:43, 60. Jacob Spears 9:54, 70. Jordan Diggins 10:43.