The Ballard men's cross country team finished with an impressive runner-up finish at the ADM Invite on Monday evening.  The Bombers finished with 75 team points finishing behind the host ADM who scored 20 team points.

Senior Seth Pencook finished 9th for the Bombers.  He finished in a time of 18:23.4.  Trent Payne finished 15th running in a time of 19:00.9.  Freshmen Max Davidson and Jayden Leland finished 16th and 17th running in times of 19:03.2 and 19:26.5 respectively.  Sophomore Logan Huntrods finished 20th (19:38.1) and Peyton Johnson finished 33rd (21:36.4).

Comments From Head Coach Scott Barth:

"The boys ran a solid race and showed good growth in this meet. We were without our season #1 Austin Shoen who stayed home from the meet not feeling well. Even with that set back, we competed hard and our pack running was the best I have seen this season. Seth Pencook stepped up and ran a solid race on a hard course placing 9th in 18:23. Trent Payne, Max Davidson and Jayden Leland ran as a close pack for most of the race placing 15th, 16th and 17th for the Bombers all close to the 19:00 flat time. Bradley Sage ran a gutsy race finishing 19th to finish up our team scoring. Logan Huntrods nabbed the last medal in 20th and Peyton Johnson ran his first varsity race of his career in 33rd place overall. Like I said, the boys ran well and it looked like they had fun in doing so which is nice to see. Our scoring pack of runners were all packed as closely together as we have seen all season. The 1 minute and 3 second gap from 1-5 is a really good sign for us. 

We are a relatively young team running 3 freshmen, a sophomore and junior all in our top 8. Fortunately we have 3 solid seniors leading the way to keep us stabilized and ready to compete. The boys are much improved and I know we have more in our 'tanks' which I hope we tap into over the last 1/2 of our season. We have goals and are working hard to get back into contention in meets. I am proud of the way the guys competed tonight."

The Bombers are back in action on Thursday - September 29 when they compete in the Perry Invitational Meet.  The meet will feature the middle school, junior varsity, and varsity and will start at 4:15 PM.

ADM INVITATIONAL MEN'S TEAM SCORES

1. ADM, 20

2. Ballard, 75

3. I-35, 85

4. Des Moines Lincoln, 96

5. Van Meter, 153

6. Woodward-Granger, 153

7. Perry, 166

8. Saydel, 207

ADM INVITATIONAL MEN'S INDIVIDUAL TIMES

9 Seth Pencook, 18:23.4

15 Trent Payne, 19:00.9

16 Max Davidson, 19:02.9

17 Jayden Leland, 19:03.2

18 Bradley Sage, 19:26.5

20 Logan Huntrods, 19:38.1

33 Peyton Johnson, 21:36.4