St. Mary, competing against much bigger schools, came away with a fifth-place finish in the girls' race Saturday at the Traverse City Central Invitational.

“That’s an indication of how we’ve been running,” Eagles coach Karen Kirt said. “All of our girls were within two minutes of each other, and that keeps us in contention for top spots. I’d say our kids our doing very well for our first year of cross country.”

The host Trojan girls won the race, held on the 5K course at Courtade Elementary in Traverse City. Benzie Central, Mount Pleasant and Ludington claimed the next three spots. Plymouth Central won the boys’ race, with Benzie second. The race attracted more than 600 runners from high school, junior high and elementary schools.

Two county runners also finished in the top 10. Sophomore Ben Wynsma of Suttons Bay was third in 17:10, and Glen Lake senior Amber Therrien was seventh in 20:21. Glen Lake’s Nadine Gilmer and John Lee also earned medals, which went to the top-10 runners in each grade. Lakers coach Pete Edwards said that freshman Danny Kornelis also ran his fastest-ever time.

Chase Palmer was the second Suttons Bay runner across the line in 20:02, which was 46th. Following were teammates Sawyer Lawler (48th in 20:07), Tom Pritz (50th in 20:39), Travis Smith (52nd in 21:06), Marco Brambini (59th in 22:58), Nick Collins (60th in a season’s-best 23:20), and Nathan Blue (63rd in 23:35.)

The St. Mary boys’ team was paced by freshman Aaron Helwig, who was 51st. Other Eagle runners included Kienan Sutton (55th), Layton Korson (57th), Kyle Helwig (58th), and Brian Kalchick (61st).

Glen Lake’s girls, meanwhile, finished third at the 10-team Mason County Eastern Invitational held Tuesday behind the strong running of Therrien. The senior captain shattered her lifetime best in 5K runs with a time of 18:50, her first-ever sub-19 minute performance. Joining her on the awards podium and earning medals were Gilmer, who also set a personal best time, and freshman Bonnie Ricord. Freshman Alicia Glazier and senior Kayle Smith also posted their fastest-ever 5K times for the Lakers.

“All indicators predict that the Glen Lake girls team is peaking at the perfect time heading into the two-week countdown to Regionals,” said Lakers coach Pete Edwards.

For the Glen Lake boys, senior captain Mike Keim earned a medal and Kornelis used a strong finish to again post his fastest time of the year.

St. Mary returns to action Saturday at the Class D state championship for small schools in Mount Pleasant. The event is limited to schools with enrollments of less than 248. Glen Lake and Suttons Bay will run at the Elk Rapids Invitational Saturday, and all three county schools will compete in the Regionals on Oct. 27 at Benzie Central.