Brooks takes boys' title

Devin Brooks raises his hands just before he crosses the finish line as he wins the boys' varsity race at the Fort Scott Invitational Thursday evening. Brooks ran the 5-kilometer course in 17:37.62, winning by nearly a minute. (Scott Nuzum/Tribune)

The rain came and then it went away. And Fort Scott High School's cross-country teams got to enjoy a moment in the sun as the girls' won the varsity team title and the boys had the varsity and junior varsity champion runners in their home meet Thursday.

The course ended up being a little muddier than usual but nothing could stop the winners of the varsity races, who each dominated.

Devin Brooks won the varsity boys' run by nearly a minute, turning in a time of 17:37.62 in winning. Teammate Gavin Smith was second in 18:32.52. Nick Shelton came in 14th to earn a medal for the Tigers in 20:17.09. Noah Daly finished 18th in 20:54.17. The top 15 in each division earned medals.

Uniontown's Luke George finished 33rd in 22:32.20. Aaron Angeles from the Christian Learning Center was 39th in 23:03.35.

Labette County was team champion with 43 points followed by Iola with 45. With only four runners, Fort Scott was not eligible for the team title.

Led by Paxsten Eads' second-place time of 21:44.03, the varsity girls won the team title with 40 points, beating out Nevada by one.

Nevada freshman Calli Beshore dominated the race, turning in a time of 21:04.17 in winning by almost 40 seconds.

Mallory Weshoff, sixth in 22:36.27, and Emma Davis, eighth in 22:52.62, also medaled for Fort Scott. Berkley Chavis finished in 23:19.36, Kelsey Carpenter in 23:37.26 and Lexi Bryant in 23:38.32 as they took spots 17 through 19. Skyelar Brown was 22nd in 24:11.05.

Nikki Bollinger ran for Uniontown, finishing 39th in 29:27.93.

Connor Mason won the boys' JV race for the Tigers in 20:03.75. Raymond Harper was fifth in 21:37.41. Zack Pryor was 33rd in 25:30.34, and Luke Martin was 38th in 26:19.85.

Sheldon Bailey led Uniontown with an 18th-place time of 22:57.97. Alec Womelsdorf was 31st in 24:55.35. Michael Goebel was 55th in 39:07.15.

Brett Stark finished in 20th place for Christian Learning Center in 23:09.92. Jack Clark was 30th in 24:51.43 and Tanner Streeter was 39th in 26:39.41.

Nevada was the team winner with 21 points followed by Frontenac with 46.

Fort Scott's girls won the JV team title with 15 points, being the only school with a full team (a minimum of five runners). The Tigers had three medalists, Gracie Krokroskia in fourth in 26:47.30; Zoe Self in fifth in 27:01.34; and Alyx Brooks in 12th in 28:00.71. Also running for the Tigers were Mackenzie Ragan, 19th in 29:01.55; Gabby Griffin, 20th in 29:31.38; and Melonie Harper, 24th in 30:42.10.

Cally Ballou of the Christian Learning Center placed 15th for the Mustangs in 28:27.92. Uniontown's Bryanna Johnson finished 29th in 34:18.24.

Fort Scott High will compete at Wellsville and Uniontown will be in the Parsons meet Thursday.